Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving channel status information (CSI) for supporting 256QAM in wireless access system

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving channel status information (CSI) for supporting 256 QAM in a wireless access system are disclosed. A method for transmitting a Channel Quality Indication (CQI) index for 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) in a wireless access system includes: receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a message including a 256 QAM indicator indicating use of a 256 QAM scheme; performing channel measurement of a downlink channel through which downlink data is transmitted; and transmitting a CQI index in response to the channel measurement result to a base station (BS), wherein the UE simultaneously manages a first CQI feedback table for supporting a legacy modulation scheme and a second CQI feedback table for supporting the 256 QAM scheme.

Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e), this application claims the benefit of Provisional U.S. Patent Applications No. 61/739,702 filed on Dec. 19, 2012, 61/883,191 filed on Sep. 27, 2013, and 61/886,653 filed on Oct. 4, 2013, which are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly to methods for transmitting and receiving channel status information (CSI) supporting a 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) scheme and apparatuses for supporting the same.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

Wireless access systems have been widely deployed to provide various types of communication services such as voice or data. In general, a wireless access system is a multiple access system that supports communication of multiple users by sharing available system resources (a bandwidth, transmission power, etc.) among them. For example, multiple access systems include a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) system, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system, and a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving Channel Status Information (CSI) supporting 256QAM in a wireless access system that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

A current LTE/LTE-A system is designed to select Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), 16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16QAM), and 64QAM as the modulation schemes. However, in order to increase the data transmission amount as well as to efficiently use radio resources, many developers are conducting intensive research into a method for indicating whether to use 256QAM having a higher modulation order. However, a new transport block size should be defined to support 256QAM, and new MCS signaling for supporting 256QAM needs to be defined. In addition, when 256QAM is supported, a CSI feedback method suitable for 256QAM needs to be newly defined.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently transmitting data.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for feeding back channel status information (CSI) for data having a high modulation order.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for supporting the above-mentioned methods.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly to methods for transmitting and receiving CSI supporting the 256QAM modulation scheme and apparatuses for supporting the same.

To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method for transmitting a Channel Quality Indication (CQI) index for 256QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) in a wireless access system includes: receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a message including a 256QAM indicator indicating use of a 256QAM scheme; receiving downlink (DL) data modulated by the 256QAM scheme; performing channel measurement of a downlink channel through which the DL data is transmitted; and transmitting a CQI index in response to the channel measurement result to a base station (BS), wherein the UE simultaneously manages a first CQI feedback table for supporting a legacy modulation scheme and a second CQI feedback table for supporting the 256QAM scheme.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a user equipment (UE) for transmitting a Channel Quality Indication (CQI) index for 256QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) in a wireless access system includes: a transmitter; a receiver; and a processor configured to support the 256QAM scheme, wherein the processor controls the receiver to receive a message including a 256QAM indicator indicating use of the 256QAM scheme, controls the receiver to receive downlink (DL) data modulated by the 256QAM scheme, performs channel measurement of a downlink channel through which the DL data is transmitted, and controls the transmitter to transmit a CQI index in response to the channel measurement result to a base station (BS), wherein the processor simultaneously manages a first CQI feedback table for supporting a legacy modulation scheme and a second CQI feedback table for supporting the 256QAM scheme.

If the 256QAM scheme is used, the CQI index may always be selected from the second CQI feedback table, wherein the CQI index is transmitted through a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

If the CQI index is selected from the first CQI feedback table, the CQI index may always be transmitted through a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and if the CQI index is selected from the second CQI feedback table, the CQI index may always be transmitted through a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

The transmission of the CQI index may include: transmitting, by the user equipment (UE), a CQI table identifier (ID) indicating which CQI feedback table is used.

The first CQI feedback table may be 4 bits long, and the second CQI feedback table may be 5 bits long.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for receiving a Channel Quality Indication (CQI) index for 256QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) in a wireless access system includes: transmitting, by a base station (BS), a message including a 256QAM indicator indicating use of a 256QAM scheme; and transmitting downlink (DL) data modulated by the 256QAM scheme; receiving a CQI index, wherein the BS simultaneously manages a first CQI feedback table for supporting a legacy modulation scheme and a second CQI feedback table for supporting the 256QAM scheme.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a base station (BS) for receiving a Channel Quality Indication (CQI) index for 256QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) in a wireless access system includes: a transmitter; a receiver; and a processor configured to support the 256QAM scheme, wherein the processor controls the transmitter to transmit a message including a 256QAM indicator indicating use of a 256QAM scheme, controls the transmitter to transmit downlink (DL) data modulated by the 256QAM scheme, controls the receiver to receive a CQI index, wherein the processor simultaneously manages a first CQI feedback table for supporting a legacy modulation scheme and a second CQI feedback table for supporting the 256QAM scheme.

If the 256QAM scheme is used, the CQI index is always associated with the second CQI feedback table, wherein the CQI index is received through a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

If the CQI index is associated with the first CQI feedback table, the CQI index is always received through a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH); and if the CQI index is associated with the second CQI feedback table, the CQI index is always received through a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

The reception of the CQI index includes receiving, by the base station (BS), a CQI table identifier (ID) indicating which CQI feedback table is used.

The first CQI feedback table may be 4 bits long, and the second CQI feedback table may be 5 bits long.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating physical channels used in the embodiments and a signal transmission method using the physical channels.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a radio frame for use in the embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a resource grid of a downlink slot according to the embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an uplink subframe according to the embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a downlink subframe according to the embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates PUCCH formats 1a and 1b for use in a normal cyclic prefix (CP) case.

FIG. 7 illustrates PUCCH formats 1a and 1b for use in an extended CP case.

FIG. 8 illustrates PUCCH formats 2/2a/2b in a normal cyclic prefix (CP) case.

FIG. 9 illustrates PUCCH formats 2/2a/2b in an extended CP case.

FIG. 10 illustrates ACK/NACK channelization for PUCCH formats 1a and 1b.

FIG. 11 illustrates channelization for a hybrid structure of PUCCH format 1a/1b and format 2/2a/2b in the same PRB.

FIG. 12 illustrates allocation of a physical resource block (PRB).

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a component carrier (CC) of the embodiments and carrier aggregation (CA) used in an LTE_A system.

FIG. 14 illustrates a subframe structure of an LTE-A system according to cross-carrier scheduling.

FIG. 15 is conceptual diagram illustrating a construction of serving cells according to cross-carrier scheduling.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram illustrating CA PUCCH signal processing.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating one of methods for reporting CSI through an uplink channel.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating one of methods for reporting CSI through a PUSCH.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating one of methods for reporting CSI through a PUSCH.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a communication device for implementing methods of FIGS. 1 to 19.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly to methods for transmitting and receiving channel status information (CSI) supporting a 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) scheme and apparatuses for supporting the same.

The embodiments of the present disclosure described below are combinations of elements and features of the present disclosure in specific forms. The elements or features may be considered selective unless otherwise mentioned. Each element or feature may be practiced without being combined with other elements or features. Further, an embodiment of the present disclosure may be constructed by combining parts of the elements and/or features. Operation orders described in embodiments of the present disclosure may be rearranged. Some constructions or elements of any one embodiment may be included in another embodiment and may be replaced with corresponding constructions or features of another embodiment.

In the description of the attached drawings, a detailed description of known procedures or steps of the present disclosure will be avoided lest it should obscure the subject matter of the present disclosure. In addition, procedures or steps that could be understood to those skilled in the art will not be described either.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a description is mainly made of a data transmission and reception relationship between a Base Station (BS) and a User Equipment (UE). A BS refers to a terminal node of a network, which directly communicates with a UE. A specific operation described as being performed by the BS may be performed by an upper node of the BS.

Namely, it is apparent that, in a network comprised of a plurality of network nodes including a BS, various operations performed for communication with a UE may be performed by the BS, or network nodes other than the BS. The term ‘BS’ may be replaced with a fixed station, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNode B or eNB), an Advanced Base Station (ABS), an access point, etc.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term terminal may be replaced with a UE, a Mobile Station (MS), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Mobile Subscriber Station (MSS), a mobile terminal, an Advanced Mobile Station (AMS), etc.

A transmitter is a fixed and/or mobile node that provides a data service or a voice service and a receiver is a fixed and/or mobile node that receives a data service or a voice service. Therefore, a UE may serve as a transmitter and a BS may serve as a receiver, on an UpLink (UL). Likewise, the UE may serve as a receiver and the BS may serve as a transmitter, on a DownLink (DL).

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be supported by standard specifications disclosed for at least one of wireless access systems including an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.xx system, a 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) system, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and a 3GPP2 system. In particular, the embodiments of the present disclosure may be supported by the standard specifications, 3GPP TS 36.211, 3GPP TS 36.212, 3GPP TS 36.213, 3GPP TS 36.321 and 3GPP TS 36.331. That is, the steps or parts, which are not described to clearly reveal the technical idea of the present disclosure, in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be explained by the above standard specifications. All terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be explained by the standard specifications.

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings. The detailed description, which will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings, is intended to explain exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than to show the only embodiments that can be implemented according to the invention.

The following detailed description includes specific terms in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the specific terms may be replaced with other terms without departing the technical spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the term used in embodiments of the present disclosure, a data block is interchangeable with a transport block in the same meaning. In addition, the MCS/TBS index table used in the LTE/LTE-A system can be defined as a first table or a legacy table, and the MCS/TBS index table which is used for supporting the 256QAM can be defined as a second table or a new table.

The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various wireless access systems such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), etc.

CDMA may be implemented as a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA may be implemented as a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)/General packet Radio Service (GPRS)/Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be implemented as a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), etc.

UTRA is a part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3GPP LTE is a part of Evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA, adopting OFDMA for DL and SC-FDMA for UL. LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is an evolution of 3GPP LTE. While the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in the context of a 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system in order to clarify the technical features of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is also applicable to an IEEE 802.16e/m system, etc.

1. 3GPP LTE/LTE-A System

In a wireless access system, a UE receives information from an eNB on a DL and transmits information to the eNB on a UL. The information transmitted and received between the UE and the eNB includes general data information and various types of control information. There are many physical channels according to the types/usages of information transmitted and received between the eNB and the UE.

1.1 System Overview

FIG. 1 illustrates physical channels and a general method using the physical channels, which may be used in embodiments of the present disclosure.

When a UE is powered on or enters a new cell, the UE performs initial cell search (S11). The initial cell search involves acquisition of synchronization to an eNB. Specifically, the UE synchronizes its timing to the eNB and acquires information such as a cell Identifier (ID) by receiving a Primary Synchronization Channel (P-SCH) and a Secondary Synchronization Channel (S-SCH) from the eNB.

Then the UE may acquire information broadcast in the cell by receiving a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) from the eNB. During the initial cell search, the UE may monitor a DL channel state by receiving a Downlink Reference Signal (DL RS).

After the initial cell search, the UE may acquire more detailed system information by receiving a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and receiving a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) based on information of the PDCCH (S12).

To complete connection to the eNB, the UE may perform a random access procedure with the eNB (S13 to S16). In the random access procedure, the UE may transmit a preamble on a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) (S13) and may receive a PDCCH and a PDSCH associated with the PDCCH (S14). In the case of contention-based random access, the UE may additionally perform a contention resolution procedure including transmission of an additional PRACH (S15) and reception of a PDCCH signal and a PDSCH signal corresponding to the PDCCH signal (S16).

After the above procedure, the UE may receive a PDCCH and/or a PDSCH from the eNB (S17) and transmit a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and/or a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) to the eNB (S18), in a general UL/DL signal transmission procedure.

Control information that the UE transmits to the eNB is generically called Uplink Control Information (UCI). The UCI includes a Hybrid Automatic Repeat and reQuest Acknowledgement/Negative Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK/NACK), a Scheduling Request (SR), a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), a Precoding Matrix Index (PMI), a Rank Indicator (RI), etc.

In the LTE system, UCI is generally transmitted on a PUCCH periodically. However, if control information and traffic data should be transmitted simultaneously, the control information and traffic data may be transmitted on a PUSCH. In addition, the UCI may be transmitted aperiodically on the PUSCH, upon receipt of a request/command from a network.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary radio frame structures used in embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2(a) illustrates frame structure type 1. Frame structure type 1 is applicable to both a full Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system and a half FDD system.

One radio frame is 10 ms (T_(f)=307200·T_(s)) long, including equal-sized 20 slots indexed from 0 to 19. Each slot is 0.5 ms (T_(slot)=15360·T_(s)) long. One subframe includes two successive slots. An subframe includes 2i^(th) and (2i+1)^(th) slots. That is, a radio frame includes 10 subframes. A time required for transmitting one subframe is defined as a Transmission Time Interval (TTI). T_(s) is a sampling time given as T_(s)=1/(15 kHz×2048)=3.2552×10⁻⁸ (about 33 ns). One slot includes a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or SC-FDMA symbols in the time domain by a plurality of Resource Blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain.

A slot includes a plurality of OFDM symbols in the time domain. Since OFDMA is adopted for DL in the 3GPP LTE system, one OFDM symbol represents one symbol period. An OFDM symbol may be called an SC-FDMA symbol or symbol period. An RB is a resource allocation unit including a plurality of contiguous subcarriers in one slot.

In a full FDD system, each of 10 subframes may be used simultaneously for DL transmission and UL transmission during a 10-ms duration. The DL transmission and the UL transmission are distinguished by frequency. On the other hand, a UE cannot perform transmission and reception simultaneously in a half FDD system.

The above radio frame structure is purely exemplary. Thus, the number of subframes in a radio frame, the number of slots in a subframe, and the number of OFDM symbols in a slot may be changed.

FIG. 2(b) illustrates frame structure type 2. Frame structure type 2 is applied to a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system. One radio frame is 10 ms (T_(f)=307200·T_(s)) long, including two half-frames each having a length of 5 ms (˜153600·T_(s)) long. Each half-frame includes five subframes each being 1 ms (=30720·T_(s)) long. An i^(th) subframe includes 2i^(th) and (2i+1)^(th) slots each having a length of 0.5 ms (T_(slot)=15360·T_(s)). T_(s) is a sampling time given as T_(s)=1/(15 kHz×2048)=3.2552×10⁻⁸ (about 33 ns).

A type-2 frame includes a special subframe having three fields, Downlink Pilot Time Slot (DwPTS), Guard Period (GP), and Uplink Pilot Time Slot (UpPTS). The DwPTS is used for initial cell search, synchronization, or channel estimation at a UE, and the UpPTS is used for channel estimation and UL transmission synchronization with a UE at an eNB. The GP is used to cancel UL interference between a UL and a DL, caused by the multi-path delay of a DL signal.

[Table 1] below lists special subframe configurations (DwPTS/GP/UpPTS lengths).

TABLE 1 Normal cyclic prefix in downlink UpPTS Extended cyclic prefix in downlink Normal Extended UpPTS Special subframe cyclic prefix cyclic prefix Normal cyclic Extended cyclic configuration DwPTS in uplink in uplink DwPTS prefix in uplink prefix in uplink 0  6592 · T_(s) 2192 · T_(s) 2560 · T_(s)  7680 · T_(s) 2192 · T_(s) 2560 · T_(s) 1 19760 · T_(s) 20480 · T_(s) 2 21952 · T_(s) 23040 · T_(s) 3 24144 · T_(s) 25600 · T_(s) 4 26336 · T_(s)  7680 · T_(s) 4384 · T_(s) 5120 · T_(s) 5  6592 · T_(s) 4384 · T_(s) 5120 · T_(s) 20480 · T_(s) 6 19760 · T_(s) 23040 · T_(s) 7 21952 · T_(s) — — — 8 24144 · T_(s) — — —

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary structure of a DL resource grid for the duration of one DL slot, which may be used in embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, a DL slot includes a plurality of OFDM symbols in the time domain. One DL slot includes 7 OFDM symbols in the time domain and an RB includes 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain, to which the present disclosure is not limited.

Each element of the resource grid is referred to as a Resource Element (RE). An RB includes 12×7 REs. The number of RBs in a DL slot, N_(DL) depends on a DL transmission bandwidth. A UL slot may have the same structure as a DL slot.

FIG. 4 illustrates a structure of a UL subframe which may be used in embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, a UL subframe may be divided into a control region and a data region in the frequency domain. A PUCCH carrying UCI is allocated to the control region and a PUSCH carrying user data is allocated to the data region. To maintain a single carrier property, a UE does not transmit a PUCCH and a PUSCH simultaneously. A pair of RBs in a subframe are allocated to a PUCCH for a UE. The RBs of the RB pair occupy different subcarriers in two slots. Thus it is said that the RB pair frequency-hops over a slot boundary.

FIG. 5 illustrates a structure of a DL subframe that may be used in embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, up to three OFDM symbols of a DL subframe, starting from OFDM symbol 0 are used as a control region to which control channels are allocated and the other OFDM symbols of the DL subframe are used as a data region to which a PDSCH is allocated. DL control channels defined for the 3GPP LTE system include a Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), a PDCCH, and a Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH).

The PCFICH is transmitted in the first OFDM symbol of a subframe, carrying information about the number of OFDM symbols used for transmission of control channels (i.e. the size of the control region) in the subframe. The PHICH is a response channel to a UL transmission, delivering an HARQ ACK/NACK signal. Control information carried on the PDCCH is called Downlink Control Information (DCI). The DCI transports UL resource assignment information, DL resource assignment information, or UL Transmission (Tx) power control commands for a UE group.

1.2 Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)

1.2.1 PDCCH Overview

The PDCCH may deliver information about resource allocation and a transport format for a Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) (i.e. a DL grant), information about resource allocation and a transport format for an Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) (i.e. a UL grant), paging information of a Paging Channel (PCH), system information on the DL-SCH, information about resource allocation for a higher-layer control message such as a random access response transmitted on the PDSCH, a set of Tx power control commands for individual UEs of a UE group, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) activation indication information, etc.

A plurality of PDCCHs may be transmitted in the control region. A UE may monitor a plurality of PDCCHs. A PDCCH is transmitted in an aggregate of one or more consecutive Control Channel Elements (CCEs). A PDCCH made up of one or more consecutive CCEs may be transmitted in the control region after subblock interleaving. A CCE is a logical allocation unit used to provide a PDCCH at a code rate based on the state of a radio channel. A CCE includes a plurality of RE Groups (REGs). The format of a PDCCH and the number of available bits for the PDCCH are determined according to the relationship between the number of CCEs and a code rate provided by the CCEs.

1.2.2 PDCCH Structure

A plurality of PDCCHs for a plurality of UEs may be multiplexed and transmitted in the control region. A PDCCH is made up of an aggregate of one or more consecutive CCEs. A CCE is a unit of 9 REGs each REG including 4 REs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols are mapped to each REG. REs occupied by RSs are excluded from REGs. That is, the total number of REGs in an OFDM symbol may be changed depending on the presence or absence of a cell-specific RS. The concept of an REG to which four REs are mapped is also applicable to other DL control channels (e.g. the PCFICH or the PHICH). Let the number of REGs that are not allocated to the PCFICH or the PHICH be denoted by N_(REG). Then the number of CCEs available to the system is N_(CCE) (=└N_(REG)/9┘) and the CCEs are indexed from 0 to N_(CCE)−1.

To simplify the decoding process of a UE, a PDCCH format including n CCEs may start with a CCE having an index equal to a multiple of n. That is, given CCE the PDCCH format may start with a CCE satisfying i mod n=0

The eNB may configure a PDCCH with 1, 2, 4, or 8 CCEs. {1, 2, 4, 8} are called CCE aggregation levels. The number of CCEs used for transmission of a PDCCH is determined according to a channel state by the eNB. For example, one CCE is sufficient for a PDCCH directed to a UE in a good DL channel state (a UE near to the eNB). On the other hand, 8 CCEs may be required for a PDCCH directed to a UE in a poor DL channel state (a UE at a cell edge) in order to ensure sufficient robustness.

[Table 2] below illustrates PDCCH formats. 4 PDCCH formats are supported according to CCE aggregation levels as illustrated in [Table 2].

TABLE 2 Number of PDCCH format Number of CCEs (n) Number of REGs PDCCH bits 0 1 9 72 1 2 18 144 2 4 36 288 3 8 72 576

A different CCE aggregation level is allocated to each UE because the format or Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level of control information delivered in a PDCCH for the UE is different. An MCS level defines a code rate used for data coding and a modulation order. An adaptive MCS level is used for link adaptation. In general, three or four MCS levels may be considered for control channels carrying control information.

Regarding the formats of control information, control information transmitted on a PDCCH is called DCI. The configuration of information in PDCCH payload may be changed depending on the DCI format. The PDCCH payload is information bits. [Table 3] lists DCI according to DCI formats.

TABLE 3 DCI Format Description Format 0 Resource grants for the PUSCH transmissions (uplink) Format 1 Resource assignments for single codeword PDSCH transmissions (transmission modes 1, 2 and 7) Format 1A Compact signaling of resource assignments for single codeword PDSCH (all modes) Format 1B Compact resource assignments for PDSCH using rank-1 closed loop precoding (mode 6) Format 1C Very compact resource assignments for PDSCH (e.g. paging/broadcast system information) Format 1D Compact resource assignments for PDSCH using multi-user MIMO (mode 5) Format 2 Resource assignments for PDSCH for closed-loop MIMO operation (mode 4) Format 2A Resource assignments for PDSCH for open-loop MIMO operation (mode 3) Format Power control commands for PUCCH and PUSCH with 2-bit/1-bit power 3/3A adjustment Format 4 Scheduling of PUSCH in one UL cell with multi-antenna port transmission mode

Referring to [Table 3], the DCI formats include Format 0 for PUSCH scheduling, Format 1 for single-codeword PDSCH scheduling, Format 1A for compact single-codeword PDSCH scheduling, Format 1C for very compact DL-SCH scheduling, Format 2 for PDSCH scheduling in a closed-loop spatial multiplexing mode, Format 2A for PDSCH scheduling in an open-loop spatial multiplexing mode, and Format 3/3A for transmission of Transmission Power Control (TPC) commands for uplink channels. DCI Format 1A is available for PDSCH scheduling irrespective of the transmission mode of a UE.

The length of PDCCH payload may vary with DCI formats. In addition, the type and length of PDCCH payload may be changed depending on compact or non-compact scheduling or the transmission mode of a UE.

The transmission mode of a UE may be configured for DL data reception on a PDSCH at the UE. For example, DL data carried on a PDSCH includes scheduled data, a paging message, a random access response, broadcast information on a BCCH, etc. for a UE. The DL data of the PDSCH is related to a DCI format signaled through a PDCCH. The transmission mode may be configured semi-statically for the UE by higher-layer signaling (e.g. Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling). The transmission mode may be classified as single antenna transmission or multi-antenna transmission.

A transmission mode is configured for a UE semi-statically by higher-layer signaling. For example, multi-antenna transmission scheme may include transmit diversity, open-loop or closed-loop spatial multiplexing, Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO), or beamforming. Transmit diversity increases transmission reliability by transmitting the same data through multiple Tx antennas. Spatial multiplexing enables high-speed data transmission without increasing a system bandwidth by simultaneously transmitting different data through multiple Tx antennas. Beamforming is a technique of increasing the Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) of a signal by weighting multiple antennas according to channel states.

A DCI format for a UE depends on the transmission mode of the UE. The UE has a reference DCI format monitored according to the transmission mode configure for the UE. The following 10 transmission modes are available to UEs:

(1) Transmission mode 1: Single antenna port (port 0);

(2) Transmission mode 2: Transmit diversity;

(3) Transmission mode 3: Open-loop spatial multiplexing when the number of layer is larger than 1 or Transmit diversity when the rank is 1;

(4) Transmission mode 4: Closed-loop spatial multiplexing;

(5) Transmission mode 5: MU-MIMO;

(6) Transmission mode 6: Closed-loop rank-1 precoding;

(7) Transmission mode 7: Precoding supporting a single layer transmission, which does not based on a codebook (Rel-8);

(8) Transmission mode 8: Precoding supporting up to two layers, which do not based on a codebook (Rel-9);

(9) Transmission mode 9: Precoding supporting up to eight layers, which do not based on a codebook (Rel-10); and

(10) Transmission mode 10: Precoding supporting up to eight layers, which do not based on a codebook, used for CoMP (Rel-11).

1.2.3 PDCCH Transmission

The eNB determines a PDCCH format according to DCI that will be transmitted to the UE and adds a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) to the control information. The CRC is masked by a unique Identifier (ID) (e.g. a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI)) according to the owner or usage of the PDCCH. If the PDCCH is destined for a specific UE, the CRC may be masked by a unique ID (e.g. a cell-RNTI (C-RNTI)) of the UE. If the PDCCH carries a paging message, the CRC of the PDCCH may be masked by a paging indicator ID (e.g. a Paging-RNTI (P-RNTI)). If the PDCCH carries system information, particularly, a System Information Block (SIB), its CRC may be masked by a system information ID (e.g. a System Information RNTI (SI-RNTI)). To indicate that the PDCCH carries a random access response to a random access preamble transmitted by a UE, its CRC may be masked by a Random Access-RNTI (RA-RNTI).

Then the eNB generates coded data by channel-encoding the CRC-added control information. The channel coding may be performed at a code rate corresponding to an MCS level. The eNB rate-matches the coded data according to a CCE aggregation level allocated to a PDCCH format and generates modulation symbols by modulating the coded data. Herein, a modulation order corresponding to the MCS level may be used for the modulation. The CCE aggregation level for the modulation symbols of a PDCCH may be one of 1, 2, 4, and 8. Subsequently, the eNB maps the modulation symbols to physical REs (i.e. CCE to RE mapping).

1.2.4 Blind Decoding (BD)

A plurality of PDCCHs may be transmitted in a subframe. That is, the control region of a subframe includes a plurality of CCEs, CCE 0 to CCE N_(CCE,k)−1. N_(CCE,k) is the total number of CCEs in the control region of a k^(th) subframe. A UE monitors a plurality of PDCCHs in every subframe. This means that the UE attempts to decode each PDCCH according to a monitored PDCCH format.

The eNB does not provide the UE with information about the position of a PDCCH directed to the UE in an allocated control region of a subframe. Without knowledge of the position, CCE aggregation level, or DCI format of its PDCCH, the UE searches for its PDCCH by monitoring a set of PDCCH candidates in the subframe in order to receive a control channel from the eNB. This is called blind decoding. Blind decoding is the process of demasking a CRC part with a UE ID, checking a CRC error, and determining whether a corresponding PDCCH is a control channel directed to a UE by the UE.

The UE monitors a PDCCH in every subframe to receive data transmitted to the UE in an active mode. In a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mode, the UE wakes up in a monitoring interval of every DRX cycle and monitors a PDCCH in a subframe corresponding to the monitoring interval. The PDCCH-monitored subframe is called a non-DRX subframe.

To receive its PDCCH, the UE should blind-decode all CCEs of the control region of the non-DRX subframe. Without knowledge of a transmitted PDCCH format, the UE should decode all PDCCHs with all possible CCE aggregation levels until the UE succeeds in blind-decoding a PDCCH in every non-DRX subframe. Since the UE does not know the number of CCEs used for its PDCCH, the UE should attempt detection with all possible CCE aggregation levels until the UE succeeds in blind decoding of a PDCCH.

In the LTE system, the concept of Search Space (SS) is defined for blind decoding of a UE. An SS is a set of PDCCH candidates that a UE will monitor. The SS may have a different size for each PDCCH format. There are two types of SSs, Common Search Space (CSS) and UE-specific/Dedicated Search Space (USS).

While all UEs may know the size of a CSS, a USS may be configured for each individual UE. Accordingly, a UE should monitor both a CSS and a USS to decode a PDCCH. As a consequence, the UE performs up to 44 blind decodings in one subframe, except for blind decodings based on different CRC values (e.g., C-RNTI, P-RNTI, SI-RNTI, and RA-RNTI).

In view of the constraints of an SS, the eNB may not secure CCE resources to transmit PDCCHs to all intended UEs in a given subframe. This situation occurs because the remaining resources except for allocated CCEs may not be included in an SS for a specific UE. To minimize this obstacle that may continue in the next subframe, a UE-specific hopping sequence may apply to the starting point of a USS.

[Table 4] illustrates the sizes of CSSs and USSs.

TABLE 4 Number PDCCH of Number of candidates Number of candidates format CCEs (n) in common search space in dedicated search space 0 1 — 6 1 2 — 6 2 4 4 2 3 8 2 2

To mitigate the load of the UE caused by the number of blind decoding attempts, the UE does not search for all defined DCI formats simultaneously. Specifically, the UE always searches for DCI Format 0 and DCI Format 1A in a USS. Although DCI Format 0 and DCI Format 1A are of the same size, the UE may distinguish the DCI formats by a flag for format0/format 1a differentiation included in a PDCCH. Other DCI formats than DCI Format 0 and DCI Format 1A, such as DCI Format 1, DCI Format 1B, and DCI Format 2 may be required for the UE.

The UE may search for DCI Format 1A and DCI Format 1C in a CSS. The UE may also be configured to search for DCI Format 3 or 3A in the CSS. Although DCI Format 3 and DCI Format 3A have the same size as DCI Format 0 and DCI Format 1A, the UE may distinguish the DCI formats by a CRC scrambled with an ID other than a UE-specific ID.

An SS S_(k) ^((L)) is a PDCCH candidate set with a CCE aggregation level Lε{1, 2, 4, 8}. The CCEs of PDCCH candidate set m in the SS may be determined by the following equation. L·{(Y _(k) +m)mod └N _(CCE,k) /L┘}+i  [Equation 1]

where M^((L)) is the number of PDCCH candidates with CCE aggregation level L to be monitored in the SS, m=0, . . . , M^((L))−1, i is the index of a CCE in each PDCCH candidate, and i=0, . . . , L−1. k=└n_(s)/2┘ where n_(s) is the index of a slot in a radio frame.

As described before, the UE monitors both the USS and the CSS to decode a PDCCH. The CSS supports PDCCHs with CCE aggregation levels {4, 8} and the USS supports PDCCHs with CCE aggregation levels {1, 2, 4, 8}. [Table 5] illustrates PDCCH candidates monitored by a UE.

TABLE 5 Search space S_(k) ^((L)) Number of PDCCH Type Aggregation level L Size [in CCEs] candidates M^((L)) UE- 1 6 6 specific 2 12 6 4 8 2 8 16 2 Common 4 16 4 8 16 2

Referring to [Equation 1], for two aggregation levels, L=4 and L=8, Y_(k) is set to 0 in the CSS, whereas Y_(k) is defined by [Equation 2] for aggregation level L in the USS. Y _(k)=(A·Y _(k-1))mod D  [Equation 2]

where Y⁻¹=n_(RNTI)≠0, n_(RNTI) indicating an RNTI value. A=39827 and D=65537.

1.3. PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)

PUCCH may include the following formats to transmit control information.

(1) Format 1: On-Off keying (OOK) modulation, used for SR (Scheduling Request)

(2) Format 1a & 1b: Used for ACK/NACK transmission

-   -   1) Format 1a: BPSK ACK/NACK for 1 codeword     -   2) Format 1b: QPSK ACK/NACK for 2 codewords

(3) Format 2: QPSK modulation, used for CQI transmission

(4) Format 2a & Format 2b: Used for simultaneous transmission of CQI and ACK/NACK

Table 6 shows a modulation scheme according to PUCCH format and the number of bits per subframe. Table 7 shows the number of reference signals (RS) per slot according to PUCCH format. Table 8 shows SC-FDMA symbol location of RS (reference signal) according to PUCCH format. In Table 6, PUCCH format 2a and PUCCH format 2b correspond to a case of normal cyclic prefix (CP).

TABLE 6 PUCCH format Modulation scheme No. of bits per subframe, Mbit 1 N/A N/A 1a BPSK 1 1b QPSK 2 2 QPSK 20 2a QPSK + BPSK 21 2b QPSK + BPSK 22

TABLE 7 PUCCH format Normal CP Extended CP 1, 1a, 1b 3 2 2 2 1 2a, 2b 2 N/A

TABLE 8 SC-FDMA symbol location of RS PUCCH format Normal CP Extended CP 1, 1a, 1b 2, 3, 4 2, 3 2, 2a, 2b 1, 5 3

FIG. 6 shows PUCCH formats 1a and 1b in case of a normal cyclic prefix. And, FIG. 7 shows PUCCH formats 1a and 1b in case of an extended cyclic prefix. According to the PUCCH formats 1a and 1b, control information of the same content is repeated in a subframe by slot unit. In each user equipment, ACK/NACK signal is transmitted on a different resource constructed with a different cyclic shift (CS) (frequency domain code) and an orthogonal cover (OC) or orthogonal cover code (OCC) (time domain spreading code) of CG-CAZAC (computer-generated constant amplitude zero auto correlation) sequence. For instance, the OC includes Walsh/DFT orthogonal code. If the number of CS and the number of OC are 6 and 3, respectively, total 18 user equipments may be multiplexed within the same PRB (physical resource block) with reference to a single antenna. Orthogonal sequences w0, w1, w2 and w3 may be applicable to a random time domain (after FFT modulation) or a random frequency domain (before FFT modulation).

For persistent scheduling with SR, ACK/NACK resource constructed with CS, OC and PRB (physical resource block) may be allocated to a user equipment through RRC (radio resource control. For non-persistent scheduling with dynamic ACK/NACK, the ACK/NACK resource may be implicitly allocated to a user equipment using a smallest CCE index of PDCCH corresponding to PDSCH.

Length-4 orthogonal sequence (OC) and length-3 orthogonal sequence for PUCCH format 1/1a/1b are shown in Table 9 and Table 10, respectively.

TABLE 9 Orthogonal Sequence index n_(oc) (n_(s)) sequences [w(0) . . . w(N_(SF) ^(PUCCH) − 1)] 0 [+1 +1 +1 +1] 1 [+1 −1 +1 −1] 2 [+1 −1 −1 +1]

TABLE 10 Orthogonal Sequence index n_(oc) (n_(s)) sequences [w(0) . . . w(N_(SF) ^(PUCCH) − 1)] 0 [1 1 1] 1 [1 e^(j2π/3) e^(j4π/3)] 2 [1 e^(j4π/3) e^(j2π/3)]

Orthogonal sequence (OC) [w(0) . . . w(N_(RS) ^(PUCCH)−1)] for a reference signal in PUCCH format 1/1a/1b is shown in Table 11.

TABLE 11 Sequence index n _(oc) (n_(s)) Normal cyclic prefix Extended cyclic prefix 0 [1 1 1] [1 1] 1 [1 e^(j2π/3) e^(j4π/3)] [1 −1] 2 [1 e^(j4π/3) e^(j2π/3)] N/A

FIG. 8 shows PUCCH format 2/2a/2b in case of a normal cyclic prefix. And, FIG. 9 shows PUCCH format 2/2a/2b in case of an extended cyclic prefix. Referring to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, in case of a normal CP, a subframe is constructed with 10 QPSK data symbols as well as RS symbol. Each QPSK symbol is spread in a frequency domain by CS and is then mapped to a corresponding SC-FDMA symbol. SC-FDMA symbol level CS hopping may be applied to randomize inter-cell interference. The RS may be multiplexed by CDM using a cyclic shift. For instance, assuming that the number of available CSs is 12, 12 user equipments may be multiplexed in the same PRB. For instance, assuming that the number of available CSs is 6, 6 user equipments may be multiplexed in the same PRB. In brief, a plurality of user equipments in PUCCH format 1/1a/1b and PUCCH format 2/2a/2b may be multiplexed by ‘CS+OC+PRB’ and ‘CS+PRB’, respectively.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of ACK/NACK channelization for PUCCH formats 1a and 1b. In particular, FIG. 10 corresponds to a case of ‘Δ_(shift) ^(PUCCH)=2’

FIG. 11 is a diagram of channelization for a hybrid structure of PUCCH format 1/1a/1b and PUCCH format 2/2a/2b.

Cyclic shift (CS) hopping and orthogonal cover (OC) remapping may be applicable in a following manner.

(1) Symbol-based cell-specific CS hopping for randomization of inter-cell interference

(2) Slot level CS/OC remapping

-   -   1) For inter-cell interference randomization     -   2) Slot based access for mapping between ACK/NACK channel and         resource (k)

Meanwhile, resource n_(r) for PUCCH format 1/1a/1b may include the following combinations.

(1) CS (=equal to DFT orthogonal code at symbol level) (n_(cs))

(2) OC (orthogonal cover at slot level) (n_(oc))

(3) Frequency RB (Resource Block) (n_(rb))

If indexes indicating CS, OC and RB are set to n_(cs), n_(oc), n_(rb), respectively, a representative index n_(r) may include n_(cs), n_(oc) and n_(rb). In this case, the n_(r) may meet the condition of ‘n_(r)=(n_(cs), n_(oc), n_(rb))’.

The combination of CQI, PMI, RI, CQI and ACK/NACK may be delivered through the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b. And, Reed Muller (RM) channel coding may be applicable.

For instance, channel coding for UL (uplink) CQI in LTE system may be described as follows. First of all, bitstreams a₀, a₁, a₂, a₃, . . . , a_(A-1) may be coded using (20, A) RM code. In this case, a₀ and a_(A-1) indicates MSB (Most Significant Bit) and LSB (Least Significant Bit), respectively. In case of an extended cyclic prefix, maximum information bits include 11 bits except a case that QI and ACK/NACK are simultaneously transmitted. After coding has been performed with 20 bits using the RM code, QPSK modulation may be applied. Before the BPSK modulation, coded bits may be scrambled.

Table 12 shows a basic sequence for (20, A) code.

TABLE 12 i M_(i,0) M_(i,1) M_(i,2) M_(i,3) M_(i,4) M_(i,5) M_(i,6) M_(i,7) M_(i,8) M_(i,9) M_(i,10) M_(i,11) M_(i,12) 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 6 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 7 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 8 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 9 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 10 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 12 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 13 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 14 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 15 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 16 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 17 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 18 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 19 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Channel coding bits b₀, b₁, b₂, b₃, . . . , b_(B-1) may be generated by Formula 1.

$\begin{matrix} {b_{i} = {\sum\limits_{n = 0}^{A - 1}{\left( {a_{n} \cdot M_{i,n}} \right)\;{mod}\; 2}}} & \left\lbrack {{Formula}\mspace{14mu} 3} \right\rbrack \end{matrix}$

In Formula 3, ‘i=0, 1, 2, . . . , B−1’ is met.

In case of wideband repots, a bandwidth of UCI (uplink control information) field for CQI/PMI can be represented as Tables 8 to 10 in the following.

Table 13 shows UCI (Uplink Control Information) field for broadband report (single antenna port, transmit diversity) or open loop spatial multiplexing PDSCH CQI feedback.

TABLE 13 Field Bandwidth Broadband CQI 4

Table 14 shows UL control information (UCI) field for CQI and PMI feedback in case of wideband reports (closed loop spatial multiplexing PDSCH transmission).

TABLE 14 Bandwidth 2 antenna ports 4 antenna ports Field rank = 1 rank = 2 rank = 1 Rank > 1 Wideband CQI 4 4 4 4 Spatial differential CQI 0 3 0 3 Precoding Matrix 2 1 4 4 Indication

Table 15 shows UL control information (UCI) field for RI feedback in case of wideband reports.

TABLE 15 Bit widths 4 antenna ports Field 2 antenna ports Max. 2 layers Max. 4 layers Rank Indication 1 1 2

FIG. 12 is a diagram for PRB allocation. Referring to FIG. 20, PRB may be usable for PUCCH transmission in a slot n_(s).

3. Carrier Aggregation (CA) Environment

3.1 CA Overview

A 3GPP LTE system (conforming to Rel-8 or Rel-9) (hereinafter, referred to as an LTE system) uses Multi-Carrier Modulation (MCM) in which a single Component Carrier (CC) is divided into a plurality of bands. In contrast, a 3GPP LTE-A system (hereinafter, referred to an LTE-A system) may use CA by aggregating one or more CCs to support a broader system bandwidth than the LTE system. The term CA is interchangeably used with carrier combining, multi-CC environment, or multi-carrier environment.

In the present disclosure, multi-carrier means CA (or carrier combining). Herein, CA covers aggregation of contiguous carriers and aggregation of non-contiguous carriers. The number of aggregated CCs may be different for a DL and a UL. If the number of DL CCs is equal to the number of UL CCs, this is called symmetric aggregation. If the number of DL CCs is different from the number of UL CCs, this is called asymmetric aggregation. The term CA is interchangeable with carrier combining, bandwidth aggregation, spectrum aggregation, etc.

The LTE-A system aims to support a bandwidth of up to 100 MHz by aggregating two or more CCs, that is, by CA. To guarantee backward compatibility with a legacy IMT system, each of one or more carriers, which has a smaller bandwidth than a target bandwidth, may be limited to a bandwidth used in the legacy system.

For example, the legacy 3GPP LTE system supports bandwidths {1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz} and the 3GPP LTE-A system may support a broader bandwidth than 20 MHz using these LTE bandwidths. A CA system of the present disclosure may support CA by defining a new bandwidth irrespective of the bandwidths used in the legacy system.

There are two types of CA, intra-band CA and inter-band CA. Intra-band CA means that a plurality of DL CCs and/or UL CCs are successive or adjacent in frequency. In other words, the carrier frequencies of the DL CCs and/or UL CCs are positioned in the same band. On the other hand, an environment where CCs are far away from each other in frequency may be called inter-band CA. In other words, the carrier frequencies of a plurality of DL CCs and/or UL CCs are positioned in different bands. In this case, a UE may use a plurality of Radio Frequency (RF) ends to conduct communication in a CA environment.

The LTE-A system adopts the concept of cell to manage radio resources. The above-described CA environment may be referred to as a multi-cell environment. A cell is defined as a pair of DL and UL CCs, although the UL resources are not mandatory. Accordingly, a cell may be configured with DL resources alone or DL and UL resources.

For example, if one serving cell is configured for a specific UE, the UE may have one DL CC and one UL CC. If two or more serving cells are configured for the UE, the UE may have as many DL CCs as the number of the serving cells and as many UL CCs as or fewer UL CCs than the number of the serving cells, or vice versa. That is, if a plurality of serving cells are configured for the UE, a CA environment using more UL CCs than DL CCs may also be supported.

CA may be regarded as aggregation of two or more cells having different carrier frequencies (center frequencies). Herein, the term ‘cell’ should be distinguished from ‘cell’ as a geographical area covered by an eNB. Hereinafter, intra-band CA is referred to as intra-band multi-cell and inter-band CA is referred to as inter-band multi-cell.

In the LTE-A system, a Primacy Cell (PCell) and a Secondary Cell (SCell) are defined. A PCell and an SCell may be used as serving cells. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state, if CA is not configured for the UE or the UE does not support CA, a single serving cell including only a PCell exists for the UE. On the contrary, if the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED state and CA is configured for the UE, one or more serving cells may exist for the UE, including a PCell and one or more SCells.

Serving cells (PCell and SCell) may be configured by an RRC parameter. A physical-layer ID of a cell, PhysCellId is an integer value ranging from 0 to 503. A short ID of an SCell, SCellIndex is an integer value ranging from 1 to 7. A short ID of a serving cell (PCell or SCell), ServeCellIndex is an integer value ranging from 1 to 7. If ServeCellIndex is 0, this indicates a PCell and the values of ServeCellIndex for SCells are pre-assigned. That is, the smallest cell ID (or cell index) of ServeCellIndex indicates a PCell.

A PCell refers to a cell operating in a primary frequency (or a primary CC). A UE may use a PCell for initial connection establishment or connection reestablishment. The PCell may be a cell indicated during handover. In addition, the PCell is a cell responsible for control-related communication among serving cells configured in a CA environment. That is, PUCCH allocation and transmission for the UE may take place only in the PCell. In addition, the UE may use only the PCell in acquiring system information or changing a monitoring procedure. An Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) may change only a PCell for a handover procedure by a higher-layer RRCConnectionReconfiguraiton message including mobilityControlInfo to a UE supporting CA.

An SCell may refer to a cell operating in a secondary frequency (or a secondary CC). Although only one PCell is allocated to a specific UE, one or more SCells may be allocated to the UE. An SCell may be configured after RRC connection establishment and may be used to provide additional radio resources. There is no PUCCH in cells other than a PCell, that is, in SCells among serving cells configured in the CA environment.

When the E-UTRAN adds an SCell to a UE supporting CA, the E-UTRAN may transmit all system information related to operations of related cells in RRC_CONNECTED state to the UE by dedicated signaling. Changing system information may be controlled by releasing and adding a related SCell. Herein, a higher-layer RRCConnectionReconfiguration message may be used. The E-UTRAN may transmit a dedicated signal having a different parameter for each cell rather than it broadcasts in a related SCell.

After an initial security activation procedure starts, the E-UTRAN may configure a network including one or more SCells by adding the SCells to a PCell initially configured during a connection establishment procedure. In the CA environment, each of a PCell and an SCell may operate as a CC. Hereinbelow, a Primary CC (PCC) and a PCell may be used in the same meaning and a Secondary CC (SCC) and an SCell may be used in the same meaning in embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of CCs and CA in the LTE-A system, which are used in embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13(a) illustrates a single carrier structure in the LTE system. There are a DL CC and a UL CC and one CC may have a frequency range of 20 MHz.

FIG. 13(b) illustrates a CA structure in the LTE-A system. In the illustrated case of FIG. 13(b), three CCs each having 20 MHz are aggregated. While three DL CCs and three UL CCs are configured, the numbers of DL CCs and UL CCs are not limited. In CA, a UE may monitor three CCs simultaneously, receive a DL signal/DL data in the three CCs, and transmit a UL signal/UL data in the three CCs.

If a specific cell manages N DL CCs, the network may allocate M (M≦N) DL CCs to a UE. The UE may monitor only the M DL CCs and receive a DL signal in the M DL CCs. The network may prioritize L (L≦M≦N) DL CCs and allocate a main DL CC to the UE. In this case, the UE should monitor the L DL CCs. The same thing may apply to UL transmission.

The linkage between the carrier frequencies of DL resources (or DL CCs) and the carrier frequencies of UL resources (or UL CCs) may be indicated by a higher-layer message such as an RRC message or by system information. For example, a set of DL resources and UL resources may be configured based on linkage indicated by System Information Block Type 2 (SIB2). Specifically, DL-UL linkage may refer to a mapping relationship between a DL CC carrying a PDCCH with a UL grant and a UL CC using the UL grant, or a mapping relationship between a DL CC (or a UL CC) carrying HARQ data and a UL CC (or a DL CC) carrying an HARQ ACK/NACK signal.

3.2 Cross Carrier Scheduling

Two scheduling schemes, self-scheduling and cross carrier scheduling are defined for a CA system, from the perspective of carriers or serving cells. Cross carrier scheduling may be called cross CC scheduling or cross cell scheduling.

In self-scheduling, a PDCCH (carrying a DL grant) and a PDSCH are transmitted in the same DL CC or a PUSCH is transmitted in a UL CC linked to a DL CC in which a PDCCH (carrying a UL grant) is received.

In cross carrier scheduling, a PDCCH (carrying a DL grant) and a PDSCH are transmitted in different DL CCs or a PUSCH is transmitted in a UL CC other than a UL CC linked to a DL CC in which a PDCCH (carrying a UL grant) is received.

Cross carrier scheduling may be activated or deactivated UE-specifically and indicated to each UE semi-statically by higher-layer signaling (e.g. RRC signaling).

If cross carrier scheduling is activated, a Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) is required in a PDCCH to indicate a DL/UL CC in which a PDSCH/PUSCH indicated by the PDCCH is to be transmitted. For example, the PDCCH may allocate PDSCH resources or PUSCH resources to one of a plurality of CCs by the CIF. That is, when a PDCCH of a DL CC allocates PDSCH or PUSCH resources to one of aggregated DL/UL CCs, a CIF is set in the PDCCH. In this case, the DCI formats of LTE Release-8 may be extended according to the CIF. The CIF may be fixed to three bits and the position of the CIF may be fixed irrespective of a DCI format size. In addition, the LTE Release-8 PDCCH structure (the same coding and resource mapping based on the same CCEs) may be reused.

On the other hand, if a PDCCH transmitted in a DL CC allocates PDSCH resources of the same DL CC or allocates PUSCH resources in a single UL CC linked to the DL CC, a CIF is not set in the PDCCH. In this case, the LTE Release-8 PDCCH structure (the same coding and resource mapping based on the same CCEs) may be used.

If cross carrier scheduling is available, a UE needs to monitor a plurality of PDCCHs for DCI in the control region of a monitoring CC according to the transmission mode and/or bandwidth of each CC. Accordingly, an appropriate SS configuration and PDCCH monitoring are needed for the purpose.

In the CA system, a UE DL CC set is a set of DL CCs scheduled for a UE to receive a PDSCH, and a UE UL CC set is a set of UL CCs scheduled for a UE to transmit a PUSCH. A PDCCH monitoring set is a set of one or more DL CCs in which a PDCCH is monitored. The PDCCH monitoring set may be identical to the UE DL CC set or may be a subset of the UE DL CC set. The PDCCH monitoring set may include at least one of the DL CCs of the UE DL CC set. Or the PDCCH monitoring set may be defined irrespective of the UE DL CC set. DL CCs included in the PDCCH monitoring set may be configured to always enable self-scheduling for UL CCs linked to the DL CCs. The UE DL CC set, the UE UL CC set, and the PDCCH monitoring set may be configured UE-specifically, UE group-specifically, or cell-specifically.

If cross carrier scheduling is deactivated, this implies that the PDCCH monitoring set is always identical to the UE DL CC set. In this case, there is no need for signaling the PDCCH monitoring set. However, if cross carrier scheduling is activated, the PDCCH monitoring set may be defined within the UE DL CC set. That is, the eNB transmits a PDCCH only in the PDCCH monitoring set to schedule a PDSCH or PUSCH for the UE.

FIG. 14 illustrates a cross carrier-scheduled subframe structure in the LTE-A system, which is used in embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 14, three DL CCs are aggregated for a DL subframe for LTE-A UEs. DL CC ‘A’ is configured as a PDCCH monitoring DL CC. If a CIF is not used, each DL CC may deliver a PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH in the same DL CC without a CIF. On the other hand, if the CIF is used by higher-layer signaling, only DL CC ‘A’ may carry a PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH in the same DL CC ‘A’ or another CC. Herein, no PDCCH is transmitted in DL CC ‘B’ and DL CC ‘C’ that are not configured as PDCCH monitoring DL CCs.

FIG. 15 is conceptual diagram illustrating a construction of serving cells according to cross-carrier scheduling.

Referring to FIG. 15, an eNB (or BS) and/or UEs for use in a radio access system supporting carrier aggregation (CA) may include one or more serving cells. In FIG. 8, the eNB can support a total of four serving cells (cells A, B, C and D). It is assumed that UE A may include Cells (A, B, C), UE B may include Cells (B, C, D), and UE C may include Cell B. In this case, at least one of cells of each UE may be composed of P Cell. In this case, P Cell is always activated, and S Cell may be activated or deactivated by the eNB and/or UE.

The cells shown in FIG. 15 may be configured per UE. The above-mentioned cells selected from among cells of the eNB, cell addition may be applied to carrier aggregation (CA) on the basis of a measurement report message received from the UE. The configured cell may reserve resources for ACK/NACK message transmission in association with PDSCH signal transmission. The activated cell is configured to actually transmit a PDSCH signal and/or a PUSCH signal from among the configured cells, and is configured to transmit CSI reporting and Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission. The deactivated cell is configured not to transmit/receive PDSCH/PUSCH signals by an eNB command or a timer operation, and CRS reporting and SRS transmission are interrupted.

3.3 CA PUCCH (Carrier Aggregation Physical Uplink Control Channel)

In a wireless communication system supportive of carrier aggregation, PUCCH format for feeding back UCI (e.g., multi-ACK/NACK bit) can be defined. For clarity of the following description, such PUCCH format shall be named CA PUCCH format.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for one example of a signal processing process of CA PUCCH.

Referring to FIG. 16, a channel coding block generates coding bits (e.g., encoded bits, coded bits, etc.) (or codeword) b_0, b_1, . . . and b_N−1 by channel-coding information bits a_0, a_1, . . . and a_M−1 (e.g., multiple ACK/NACK bits). In this case, the M indicates a size of information bits and the N indicates a size of the coding bits. The information bits may include multiple ACK/NACK for UL control information (UCI), e.g., a plurality of data (or PDSCH) received via a plurality of DL CCS. In this case, the information bits a_0, a_1, . . . a_M−1 may be joint-coded irrespective of type/number/size of the UCI configuring the information bits. For instance, in case that information bits include multiple ACK/NACK for a plurality of DL CCs, channel coding may not be performed per DL CC or individual ACK/NACK bit but may be performed on all bit information, from which a single codeword may be generated. And, channel coding is non-limited by this. Moreover, the channel coding may include one of simplex repetition, simplex coding, RM (Reed Muller) coding, punctured RM coding, TBCC (tail-biting convolutional coding), LDPC (low-density parity-check), turbo coding and the like. Besides, coding bits may be rate-matched in consideration of a modulation order and a resource size (not shown in the drawing). A rate matching function may be included as a part of the channel coding block or may be performed via a separate function block.

A modulator generates modulated symbols c_0, c_1 . . . c_L−1 by modulating coding bits b_0, b_1 . . . b_N−1. In this case, the L indicates a size of modulated symbol. This modulation scheme may be performed in a manner of modifying a size and phase of a transmission signal. For instance, the modulation scheme may include one of n-PSK (Phase Shift Keying), n-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and the like, where n is an integer equal to or greater than 2. In particular, the modulation scheme may include one of BPSK (Binary PSK), QPSK (Quadrature PSK), 8-PSK, QAM, 16-QAM, 64-QAM and the like.

A divider divides the modulated symbols c_0, c_1 . . . c_L−1 to slots, respectively. A sequence/pattern/scheme for dividing the modulated symbols to the slots may be specially non-limited. For instance, the divider may be able to divide the modulated symbols to the corresponding slots in order from a head to tail (Localized scheme). In doing so, as shown in the drawing, the modulated symbols c_0, c_1 . . . c_L/2−1 may be divided to the slot 0 and the modulated symbols c_L/2, c_L/2+1 . . . c_L−1 may be divided to the slot 1. Moreover, the modulated symbols may be divided to the corresponding slots, respectively, by interleaving or permutation. For instance, the even-numbered modulated symbol may be divided to the slot 0, while the odd-numbered modulated symbol may be divided to the slot 1. The modulation scheme and the dividing scheme may be switched to each other in order.

A DFT precoder may perform DFT precoding (e.g., 12-point DFT) on the modulated symbols divided to the corresponding slots to generate a single carrier waveform. Referring to the drawing, the modulated symbols c_0, c_1 . . . c_L/2−1 divided to the corresponding slot 0 may be DFT-precoded into DFT symbols d_0, d_1 . . . d_L/2−1, and the modulated symbols c_L/2, c_L/2+1 . . . c_L−1 divided to the slot 1 may be DFT-precoded into DFT symbols d_L/2, d_L/2+1 . . . d_L−1. Moreover, the DFT precoding may be replaced by another linear operation (e.g., Walsh precoding) corresponding thereto.

A spreading block may spread the DFT-performed signal at SC-FDMA symbols level (e.g., time domain). The time-domain spreading at the SC-FDMA level may be performed using a spreading code (sequence). The spreading code may include pseudo orthogonal code and orthogonal code. The pseudo orthogonal code may include PN (pseudo noise) code, by which the pseudo orthogonal code may be non-limited. The orthogonal code may include Walsh code and DFT code, by which the orthogonal code may be non-limited. The orthogonal code (OC) may be interchangeably used with one of an orthogonal sequence, an orthogonal cover (OC) and an orthogonal cover code (OCC). In this specification, for example, the orthogonal code may be mainly described as a representative example of the spreading code for clarity and convenience of the following description. Optionally, the orthogonal code may be substituted with the pseudo orthogonal code. A maximum value of a spreading code size (or a spreading factor: SF) may be limited by the number of SC-FDAM symbols used for control information transmission. For example, in case that 5 SC-FDMA symbols are used in one slot for control information transmission, orthogonal codes (or pseudo orthogonal codes) w0, w1, w2, w3 and w4 of length 5 may be used per slot. The SF may mean a spreading degree of the control information and may be associated with a multiplexing order or an antenna multiplexing order of a user equipment. The SF may be variable like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . depending on a requirement of a system. The SF may be defined in advance between a base station and a user equipment. And, the SF may be notified to a user equipment via DCI or RRC signaling.

The signal generated through the above-described process may be mapped to subcarrier within the PRB and may be then transformed into a time-domain signal through IFFT. CP may be attached to the time-domain signal. The generated SC-FDMA symbol may be then transmitted through an RF stage.

3.3.1 CSI (Channel State Information Feedback) on PUCCH

First of all, in the 3GPP LTE system, when a DL reception entity (e.g., a user equipment) is connected to a DL transmission entity (e.g., a base station), the DL reception entity performs measurement on a reference signal received power (RSRP) of a reference signal transmitted in DL, a quality of a reference signal (RSRQ: reference signal received quality) and the like at a random time and is then able to make a periodic or even-triggered report of a corresponding measurement result to the base station.

Each user equipment reports a DL channel information in accordance with a DL channel status via uplink. A base station is then able to determine time/frequency resources, MCS (modulation and coding scheme) and the like appropriate for a data transmission to each user equipment using the DL channel information received from the each user equipment.

Such channel state information (CSI) may include CQI (Channel Quality Indication), PMI (Precoding Matrix Indicator), PTI (Precoder Type Indication) and/or RI (Rank Indication). In particular, the CSI may be transmitted entirely or partially depending on a transmission mode of each user equipment. CQI is determined based on a received signal quality of a user equipment, which may be generally determined on the basis of a measurement of a DL reference signal. In doing so, a CQI value actually delivered to a base station may correspond to an MCS capable of providing maximum performance by maintaining a block error rate (BLER) under 10% in the received signal quality measured by a user equipment.

This channel information reporting may be classified into a periodic report transmitted periodically and an aperiodic report transmitted in response to a request made by a base station.

In case of the aperiodic report, it is set for each user equipment by a 1-bit request bit (CQI request bit) contained in UL scheduling information downloaded to a user equipment by a base station. Having received this information, each user equipment is then able to deliver channel information to the base station via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in consideration of its transmission mode. And, it may set RI and CQI/PMI not to be transmitted on the same PUSCH.

In case of the periodic report, a period for transmitting channel information via an upper layer signal, an offset in the corresponding period and the like are signaled to each user equipment by subframe unit and channel information in consideration of a transmission mode of each user equipment may be delivered to a base station via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) in accordance with a determined period. In case that data transmitted in uplink simultaneously exists in a subframe in which channel information is transmitted by a determined period, the corresponding channel information may be transmitted together with the data not on the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) but on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In case of the periodic report via PUCCH, bits (e.g., 11 bits) limited further than those of the PUSCH may be used. RI and CQI/PMI may be transmitted on the same PUSCH.

In case that contention occurs between the periodic report and the aperiodic report in the same subframe, only the aperiodic report can be performed.

In calculating Wideband CQI/PMI, a most recently transmitted RI may be usable. RI in a PUCCH CSI report mode is independent from RI in a PUSCH CSI report mode. The RI in the PUSCH CSI report mode is valid for CQI/PMI in the corresponding PUSCH CSI report mode only.

Table 16 is provided to describe CSI feedback type transmitted on PUCCH and PUCCH CSI report mode.

TABLE 16 PMI Feedback Type No PMI (OL, TD, single-antenna) Single PMI (CL) CQI Wideband Mode 1-0 Mode 1-1 Feedback RI (only for Open- RI Type Loop SM) Wideband CQI (4 bit) One Wideband Wideband spatial CQI CQI (4 bit) when (3 bit) for RI>1 RI>1, CQI of Wideband PMI (4 bit) first codeword UE Mode 2-0 Mode 2-1 Selected RI (only for Open- RI Loop SM) Wideband CQI (4 bit) Wideband CQI Wideband spatial CQI (4 bit) (3 bit) for RI>1 Best-1 CQI (4 bit) Wideband PMI (4 bit) in each BPBest-1 Best-1 CQI (4 bit) 1 in indicator(L-bit each BP label) when RI>1, Best-1 spatial CQI (3 bit) CQI of first for RI>1 codeword Best-1 indicator (L-bit label)

Referring to Table 16, in the periodic report of channel information, there are 4 kinds of reporting modes (mode 1-0, mode 1-2, mode 2-0 and mode 2-1) in accordance with CQI and PMI feedback types.

CQI can be classified into WB (wideband) CQI and SB (subband) CQI in accordance with CQI feedback type and PMI can be classified into No PMI or Single PMI in accordance with a presence or non-presence of PMI transmission. In Table 11, No PMI corresponds to a case of open-loop (OL), transmit diversity (TD) and single-antenna, while Single PMI corresponds to a case of closed-loop (CL).

The mode 1-0 corresponds to a case that WB CQI is transmitted in the absence of PMI transmission. In this case, RI is transmitted only in case of open-loop (OL) spatial multiplexing (SM) and one WB CQI represented as 4 bits can be transmitted. If RI is greater than 1, CQI for a 1^(st) codeword can be transmitted.

The mode 1-1 corresponds to a case that a single PMI and WB CQI are transmitted. In this case, 4-bit WB CQI and 4-bit WB PMI can be transmitted together with RI transmission. Additionally, if RI is greater than 1, 3-bit WB (wideband) spatial differential CQI can be transmitted. In 2-codeword transmission, the WB spatial differential CQI may indicate a difference value between a WB CQI index for codeword 1 and a WB CQI index for codeword 2. The difference value in-between may have a value selected from a set {−4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3} and can be represented as 3 bits.

The mode 2-0 corresponds to a case that CQI on a UE-selected band is transmitted in the absence of PMI transmission. In this case, RI is transmitted only in case of open-loop spatial multiplexing (SM) and a WB CQI represented as 4 bits may be transmitted. A best CQI (best-1) is transmitted on each bandwidth part (BP) and the best-1 CQI may be represented as 4 bits. And, an L-bit indicator indicating the best-1 may be transmitted together. If the RI is greater than 1, a CQI for a 1^(st) codeword can be transmitted.

And, the mode 2-1 corresponds to a case that a single PMI and a CQI on a UE-selected band are transmitted. In this case, together with RI transmission, 4-bit WB CQI, 3-bit WB spiral differential CQI and 4-bit WB PMI can be transmitted. Additionally, 4-bit best-1 CQI is transmitted on each bandwidth part (BP) and L-bit best-1 indicator can be transmitted together. Additionally, if RI is greater than 1, 3-bit best-1 spatial differential CQI can be transmitted. In 2-codeword transmission, it may indicate a difference value between a best-1 CQI index of codeword 1 and a best-1 CQI index of codeword 2.

For the transmission modes, periodic PUCCH CSI report modes are supported as follows.

1) Transmission mode 1: Modes 1-0 and 2-0

2) Transmission mode 2: Modes 1-0 and 2-0

3) Transmission mode 3: Modes 1-0 and 2-0

4) Transmission mode 4: Modes 1-1 and 2-1

5) Transmission mode 5: Modes 1-1 and 2-1

6) Transmission mode 6: Modes 1-1 and 2-1

7) Transmission mode 7: Modes 1-0 and 2-0

8) Transmission mode 8: Modes 1-1 and 2-1 if a user equipment is set to make a PMI/RI reporting, or Modes 1-0 and 2-0 if a user equipment is set not to make a PMI/RI reporting

9) Transmission mode 9: Modes 1-1 and 2-1 if a user equipment is set to make a PMI/RI reporting and the number of CSI-RS ports is greater than 1, or Modes 1-0 and 2-0 if a user equipment is set not to make a PMI/RI reporting and the number of CSI-RS port(s) is equal to 1.

The periodic PUCCH CSIU reporting mode in each serving cell is set by upper layer signaling. And, the mode 1-1 is set to either submode 1 or submode 2 by an upper layer signaling using a parameter ‘PUCCH_format1-1_CSI_reporting_mode’.

A CQI reporting in a specific subframe of a specific serving cell in a UE-selected SB CQI means a measurement of at least one channel state of a bandwidth part (BP) corresponding to a portion of a bandwidth of a serving cell. An index is given to the bandwidth part in a frequency increasing order starting with a lowest frequency without an increment of a bandwidth.

N_(RB) ^(DL) Indicates the number of resource blocks (RBs) of a serving cell system bandwidth. The system bandwidth may be divided into N (1, 2, 3, . . . N) SB CQI subbands. One SB CQI may include k RBs defined in Table 15. If the number of RBs of the whole bandwidth is not a multiple integer of k(┌N_(RB) ^(DL)/k┐−└N_(RB) ^(DL)/k┘>0), the number of RBs configuring a last (i.e., N^(th)) SB CQI may be determined by Formula 4. N _(RB) ^(DL) −k·└N _(RB) ^(DL) /k┘  [Formula 4]

Table 17 shows relationship among subband size k, bandwidth part (BP) and system bandwidth N_(RB) ^(DL).

TABLE 17 System Bandwidth Subband Size k Bandwidth Parts N_(RB) ^(DL) (RBs) (J) 6-7 NA NA  8-10 4 1 11-26 4 2 27-63 6 3  64-110 8 4

Moreover, N_(J) CQI subbands configure one bandwidth part (BP) and a system bandwidth can be divided into J BPs. If J=1, N_(J) is equal to ┌N_(RB) ^(DL)/k/J┐. If J>1, N_(J) is equal to ┌N_(RB) ^(DL)/k/J┐ or ┌N_(RB) ^(DL)/k/J┐−1. A user equipment calculates a CQI index for a preferred best one (best-1) CQI band in BP and may be then able to transmit the CQI index on PUCCH. In doing so, a best-1 indicator indicating what is the best-1 CQI subband selected from one BP may be transmitted together. The best-1 indicator may be configured with L bits, where the ‘L’ can be represented as Formula 5. L=┌log₂ ┌N _(RB) ^(DL) /k/J┐┐  [Formula 5]

In the above UE-selected CQI reporting mode, it is able to determine a frequency band in which a CQI index is calculated.

In the following description, a CQI transmission period is explained. Table 18 shows CQI and PMI payload sizes of each PUCCH CSI report mode.

TABLE 18 PUCCH Reporting Modes PUCCH Mode 1-1 Mode 2-1 Mode 1-0 Mode 2-0 Format Reported Mode State (bits/BP) (bits/BP) (bits/BP) (bits/BP) 1 Sub-band RI = 1 NA 4 + L NA 4 + L CQI RI > 1 NA 7 + L NA 4 + L 1a Sub-band CQI/ 8 antenna ports RI = 1 NA 8 + L NA NA second PMI 8 antenna ports 1 < RI < 5 NA 9 + L NA NA 8 antenna ports RI > 4 NA 7 + L NA NA 2 Wideband 2 antenna ports RI = 1 6 6 NA NA CQI/PMI 4 antenna ports RI = 1 8 8 NA NA 2 antenna ports RI > 1 8 8 NA NA 4 antenna ports RI > 1 11  11  NA NA 2a Wideband first 8 antenna ports RI < 3 NA 4 NA NA PMI 8 antenna ports 2 < RI < 8 NA 2 NA NA 8 antenna ports RI = 8 NA 0 NA NA 2b Wideband CQI/ 8 antenna ports RI = 1 8 8 NA NA second PMI 8 antenna ports 1 < RI < 4 11  11  NA NA 8 antenna ports RI = 4 10  10  NA NA 8 antenna ports RI > 4 7 7 NA NA 2c Wideband CQI/ 8 antenna ports RI = 1 8 — NA NA first PMI/ 8 antenna ports 1 < RI ≦ 4 11  — NA NA second PMI 8 antenna ports 4 < RI ≦ 7 9 — NA NA 8 antenna ports RI = 8 7 — NA NA 3 RI 2-layer spatial multiplexing 1 1 1 1 4-layer spatial multiplexing 2 2 2 2 8-layer spatial multiplexing 3 3 NA NA 4 Wideband CQI RI = 1 or RI > 1 NA NA 4 4 5 RI/first PMI 8 antenna ports, 2-layer 4 NA NA NA spatial multiplexing 8 antenna ports, 4 and 8- 5 layer spatial multiplexing 6 RI/PTI 8 antenna ports, 2-layer NA 2 NA NA spatial multiplexing 8 antenna ports, 4-layer NA 3 NA NA spatial multiplexing 8 antenna ports, 8-layer NA 4 NA NA spatial multiplexing

Referring to Table 18, each CQI/PMI and RI reporting type (PUCCH reporting type) supported for PUCCH CSI report mode can be described as follows.

Reporting Type 1 supports CQI feedback for a subband selected by a user equipment.

Reporting Type 1a supports subband CQI and 2^(nd) PMI feedback.

Reporting Type 2/2b/2c supports WB CQI and PMI feedback.

Reporting Type 2a supports WB PMI feedback.

Reporting Type 3 supports RI feedback.

Reporting Type 4 supports WB CQI.

Reporting Type 5 supports RI and WB PMI feedback.

Reporting Type 6 supports RI and PTI feedback.

A user equipment can receive information including a combination of a transmission period of channel information and an offset from an upper layer by RRC signaling. The user equipment can transmit the channel information to a base station based on the provided information on the channel information transmission period. In each serving cell, a period N_(pd) in a subframe for a CQI/PMI reporting and an offset N_(OFFSET,CQI) in the subframe are determined based on a parameter ‘cqi-pmi-ConfigIndex’ (I_(CQI/PMI)) set up by upper layer signaling [cf. Table 14 and Table 15]. An offset N_(OFFSET,RI) related to a period M_(RI) for an RI reporting is determined based on a parameter ‘ri-ConfigIndex’ (I_(RI)) [cf. Table 16]. The offset NOFFSET,RI for the RI reporting has a value of {0, −1 . . . −(N_(pd)−1)} In case that a user equipment is set to report abnormality of one CSI subframe set, the ‘cqi-pmi-ConfigIndex’ and the ‘ri-ConfigIndex’ correspond to the period and offset of CQI/PMI and RI for a subframe set 1, respectively. And, the ‘cqi-pmi-ConfigIndex2’ and the ‘ri-ConfigIndex2’ correspond to the period and offset of CQI/PMI and RI for a subframe set 2, respectively.

Table 19 shows the mapping relation between N_(pd) and N_(OFFSET,CQI) of a parameter ICQI/PMI in FDD.

TABLE 19 I_(CQI/PMI) Value of N_(pd) Value of N_(OFFSET,CQI)  0 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 1 2 I_(CQI/PMI)  2 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 6 5 I_(CQI/PMI)-2  7 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 16 10 I_(CQI/PMI)-7  17 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 36 20 I_(CQI/PMI)-17  37 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 76 40 I_(CQI/PMI)-37  77 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 156 80 I_(CQI/PMI)-77 157 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 316 160 I_(CQI/PMI)-157 I_(CQI/PMI) = 317 Reserved 318 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 349 32 I_(CQI/PMI)-318 350 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 413 64 I_(CQI/PMI)-350 414 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 541 128 I_(CQI/PMI)-414 542 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 1023 Reserved

Table 20 shows the mapping relation between N_(pd) and N_(OFFSET,CQI) of a parameter ICQI/PMI in TDD.

TABLE 20 I_(CQI/PMI) Value of N_(pd) Value of N_(OFFSET,CQI) I_(CQI/PMI) = 0 1 I_(CQI/PMI)  1 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 5 5 I_(CQI/PMI)-1  6 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 15 10 I_(CQI/PMI)-6  16 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 35 20 I_(CQI/PMI)-16  36 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 75 40 I_(CQI/PMI)36  76 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 155 80 I_(CQI/PMI)-76 156 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 315 160 I_(CQI/PMI)-156 316 ≦ I_(CQI/PMI) ≦ 1023 Reserved

Table 21 shows the mapping relation between M_(RI) and N_(OFFSET,RI) of a parameter I_(RI) in TDD.

TABLE 21 I_(RI) Value of M_(RI) Value of N_(OFFSET,RI)  0 ≦ I_(RI) ≦ 160 1 −I_(RI) 161 ≦ I_(RI) ≦ 321 2 −(I_(RI)-161) 322 ≦ I_(RI) ≦ 482 4 −(I_(RI)-322) 483 ≦ I_(RI) ≦ 643 8 −(I_(RI)-483) 644 ≦ I_(RI) ≦ 804 16 −(I_(RI)-644) 805 ≦ I_(RI) ≦ 965 32 −(I_(RI)-805)  966 ≦ I_(RI) ≦ 1023 Reserved

3.3.1.1 WB CQI/PMI Reporting

A subframe for WB CQI/PMI reporting meets Formula 6 in the following. (10×n _(f) +└n _(s)/2┘−N _(OFFSET,CQI))mod(N _(pd))=0  [Formula 6]

In an RI reporting is set up, a reporting interval of the RI reporting is equal to an integer multiple M_(RI) of a period N_(pd) in a subframe. The subframe for the RI reporting meets Formula 7 in the following. (10×n _(f) +└n _(s)/2┘−N _(OFFSET,CQI) −N _(OFFSET,RI))mod(N _(pd) ·M _(RI))=0  [Formula 7]

3.3.1.2 WB CQI/PMI Reporting and SB CQI Reporting

If both a WB CQI/PMI reporting and an SB CQI reporting are set up, a subframe for the WB CQI/PMI reporting and the SB CQI reporting meets Formula 8 in the following. (10×n _(f) +└n _(s)/2┘−N _(OFFSET,CQI))mod N _(pd)=0  [Formula 8]

If a PTI is not transmitted or a most recently transmitted PTI is equal to 1, a WB CQI/WB PMI (or WB CQI/WB 2^(nd) PMI in transmission mode 9) reporting has a period of H·N_(pd) and a subframe meets Formula 9 in the following. (10×n _(f) +└n _(s)/2┘−N _(OFFSET,CQI))mod(H·N _(pd))=0  [Formula 9]

In Formula 9, H meets ‘H=J·K+1’ and J indicates the number of BP(s).

Between two consecutive WB CQI/WB PMI (or WB CQI/WB PMI in transmission mode 9) reporting, a J·K reporting uses a sequence for an SB CQI reporting having full cycles K of BP except a case that an interval between the two consecutive WB CQI/WB PMI is smaller than the J K reporting due to 0 of a system frame number transmission. In this case, a user equipment may not report SB CQI that is not transmitted before the 2^(nd) of the two WB CQI/WB PMI (or WB CQI/WB 2^(nd) PMI in transmission mode 9). The full cycles of each BP has an order increasing from 0^(th) BP to (J−1)^(th) BP and the parameter K may be set by upper layer signaling.

On the other hand, if the most recently transmitted PTI is equal to 0, a 1^(st) WB PMI has a period H′·N_(pd) and a subframe meets Formula 10 in the following. (10×n _(f) +└n _(s)/2┘−N _(OFFSET,CQI))mod(H′·N _(pd))=0  [Formula 10]

In Formula 10, H′ is signaled by an upper layer.

A reporting remaining between two consecutive 1^(st) WB PMI reporting can use a 2^(nd) WB PMI in WB CQI.

If an RI reporting is set up, a reporting interval of RI is MRI times greater than the WB CQI/PMI period H·N_(pd). The RI is reported through the same PUCCH cyclic shift resource of the WB CQI/PMI and SB CQI reporting and a subframe for the RI reporting meets Formula 11 in the following. (10×n _(f) +└n _(s)/2┘−N _(OFFSET,CQI) −N _(OFFSET,RI))mod(H·N _(pd) ·M _(RI))=0  [Formula 11]

Meanwhile, in case that contention occurs between a CSI report having PUCCH reporting type 3, 5 or 6 for one serving cell and a CSI report having PUCCH reporting type 1, 1a, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c or 4 for the same serving cell, the CSI report having a PUCCH reporting type (e.g., 1, 1a, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c and 4) of a low priority is dropped.

In case that at least one serving cell is configured for a user equipment, the user equipment transmits a CSI report for only one serving cell in a determined subframe. In the determined subframe, if contention occurs between a CSI report having PUCCH reporting type 3, 5, 6 or 2a for one serving cell and a CSI report having PUCCH reporting type 1, 1a, 2, 2b, 2c or 4 of another serving cell, the CSI report having the PUCCH reporting type (e.g., 1, 1a, 2, 2b, 2c and 4) of a low priority is dropped. Moreover, in the determined subframe, if contention occurs between a CSI report having PUCCH reporting type 2, 2b, 2c or 4 for one serving cell and a CSI report having PUCCH reporting type 1 or 1a of another serving cell, the CSI report having the PUCCH reporting type (e.g., 1 and 1a) of a low priority is dropped.

In the determined subframe, if contention occurs between CSI reports for different serving cells having a PUCCH reporting type of the same priority, a CSI for the serving cell having the lowest ‘ServCellIndex’ is reported and the CSI report for the rest of serving cells is dropped.

A CSI report of a determined PUCCH reporting type can be transmitted through PUCCH resource n_(PUCCH) ^((2,p)) In this case, n_(PUCCH) ^((2,p)) is configured UE-specifically and is configured for each cell by upper layer signaling. If contention occurs between a CSI and an active SR in the same subframe, the CSI is dropped.

In a TDD periodic CQI/PMI reporting, a period value is applied in accordance with TDD UL/DL configuration as follows.

First of all, a reporting period ‘N_(pd)=1’ is applied to TDD UL/DL configurations 0, 1, 3, 4 and 6 only. In this case, all UL subframes of a radio frame are used for the CQI/PMI reporting.

A reporting period ‘N_(pd)=5’ is applied to TDD UL/DL configurations 0, 1, 2 and 6 only.

A reporting period ‘N_(pd)={10, 20, 40, 80, 160} ’ is applicable to all TDD UL/DL configurations.

In a serving cell having N_(RB) ^(DL)≦7, Mode 2-0 and Mode 2-1 are not supported.

Table 22 shows a subsampling codebook of PUCCH mode 1-1 submode 2. In this case, i₁ indicates a 1^(st) PMI and i₂ indicates a 2^(nd) PMI.

TABLE 22 i₁ i₂ total RI #bits values #bits values #bits 1 3 {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 1 {0, 2} 4 14}, 2 3 {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 1 {0, 1} 4 14} 3 1 {0, 2} 3 {0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 4 11} 4 1 {0, 1} 3 {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} 4 5 2 {0, 1, 2, 3} 0 {0} 2 6 2 {0, 1, 2, 3} 0 {0} 2 7 2 {0, 1, 2, 3} 0 {0} 2 8 0 {0} 0 {0} 0

Table 23 shows a joint encoding of PUCCH mode 1-1 submode 1. In this case i₁, indicates a 1^(st) PMI.

TABLE 23 i₁ hypotheses RI values 0-7 1 {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14}  8-15 2 {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14} 16-17 3 {0, 2} 18-19 4 {0, 2} 20-21 5 {0, 2} 22-23 6 {0, 2} 24-25 7 {0, 2} 26 8 {0} 27-31 reserved NA

Table 24 shows a subsampling codebook of PUCCH mode 2-1. In this case, i₂ indicates a 2^(nd) PMI.

TABLE 24 i₂ RI #bits values 1 4 No subsampling 2 2 {0, 2, 4, 6} 3 2 {2, 3, 10, 11} 4 2 {0, 2, 4, 6} 5 0 {0} 6 0 {0} 7 0 {0} 8 0 {0}

An RI reporting for a serving cell in periodic report mode is valid for the CQI/PMI reporting for the serving cell in periodic CSI report mode.

CQI/PMI calculation is performed conditionally for a lowest possible RI given by a bitmap parameter ‘codebookSubsetRestriction’ if it is conditioned for a last reported RI or there is no last reported RI. If a reporting for at least one CSI subframe set is configured, CQI/PMI is calculated conditionally for a last reported RI linked to the same subframe of a CQI/PMI reporting.

3.3.1.3 Wideband Feedback

Mode 1-0

Looking into an RI reported subframe (transmitted in transmission mode 3 only), a user equipment determines an RI on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission and then makes a report of a reporting type 3 including one RI.

Looking into a CQI reported subframe, a user equipment makes a report of a reporting type 4 including one WB CQI value calculated on the assumption of a subband set (S). In transmission mode 3, a CQI is calculated conditionally for a last reported periodic RI. In another transmission mode, a CQI is calculated conditionally for a rank 1 transmission.

Mode 1-1

Looking into an RI reported subframe (transmitted in transmission mode 4, 8 or 9 only), a user equipment determines an RI on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission and then makes a report of a reporting type 3 including one RI.

Looking into a subframe in which an RI and a 1^(st) PMI are reported (transmitted only if a CSI-RS port is configured in submode 1 of transmission mode 9), a user equipment determines an RI on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission and then makes a report of a reporting type 5 including the RI and the 1^(st) PMI, which are joint encoded in accordance with a single precoding matrix selected from a codebook subset on the assumption of the subband set (S) transmission.

Looking into a CQI/PMI reported subframe, a single precoding matrix is selected from a codebook subset on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission. And a user equipment can makes a report of type 2/2b/2c. In doing so, a single WB CQI value, which is calculated on the assumption of the subband set (S) transmission and a use of a single precoding matrix in every subband, is included. Moreover, in case of a transmission mode 4 or a transmission mode 8, a user equipment can make a report of a type 2 configured with a selected single 2^(nd) PMI. In case of a submode 1 of a transmission mode 9, a user equipment can make a report of a type 2b configured with a selected single 1^(st) PMI. In case of a submode 2 of a transmission mode 9, a user equipment can make a report of a type 2c configured with 1^(st) and 2^(nd) PMIs in accordance with a single selected precoding matrix. If RI>1, a WB CQI having a 3-bit spatial difference can be reported.

In transmission mode 4, 8 or 9, PMI and CQI are calculated conditionally for a last reported periodic RI. In case of another transmission mode, they are calculated conditionally for a rank 1 transmission.

3.3.1.4 UE Selected Subband Feedback

Mode 2-0

Looking into an RI reported subframe (transmitted in transmission mode 3 only), a user equipment determines an RI on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission and then makes a report of a reporting type 3 including one RI.

Looking into a WB CQI reported subframe, a user equipment makes a report of a reporting type 4 including one WB CQI value calculated on the assumption of a subband set (S). In transmission mode 3, a CQI is calculated conditionally for a last reported periodic RI. In another transmission mode, a CQI is calculated conditionally for a rank 1 transmission.

Looking into an SB CQI reported subframe, a user equipment selects a preferred optimal one (Best-1) from J BPs configured with N_(j) subband sets [cf. Table 15] and is then able to make a report of a reporting type 1 including one CQI value that reflects a selected subband transmission of the BP determined in accordance with a preferred subband indicator L. A reporting type 1 for each BP may be alternately reported. If RI>1, a CQI indicates a channel quality of a 1^(st) codeword. A preferred subband selection in transmission mode 3 and a CQI value are calculated conditionally for a last reported periodic RI. In another transmission mode, a CQI is calculated conditionally for a rank 1 transmission.

Mode 2-1

Looking into an RI reported subframe (transmitted only if the number of configured CSI-RS ports is 2 or 4 in transmission mode 4, 8 or 9), a user equipment determines an RI on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission and then makes a report of a reporting type 3 including one RI.

Looking into a subframe, in which an RI is reported in transmission mode 9 when the number of CSI-RS ports is 8, a user equipment determines an RI on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission, determines a PTI (precoder type indicator), and then makes a report of a report type 6 including one RI and PTI.

Looking into a WB CQI/PMI reported subframe, a single precoding matrix is selected from a codebook subset on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission. Except a transmission mode 9, a user equipment can make a report of a type 2. In doing so, a single WB CQI value, which is calculated on the assumption of the subband set (S) transmission and a use of a single precoding matrix in every subband, and a single selected PMI are included. Moreover, if RI>1, a WB CQI having a 3-bit spatial difference can be reported.

In case of a transmission mode 9, a user equipment can make a report of a reporting type 2a if PTI=0. If PTI=1 or the number of CSI-RS ports is set to 2 or 4, the user equipment can make a report of a reporting type 2b. In doing so, if PTI=0, a 1^(st) PMI is included in accordance with a single selected precoding matrix. On the other hand, if PTI=1, a single WB CQI value, which is calculated on the assumption of the subband set (S) transmission and a use of a single precoding matrix in every subband, and a 2^(nd) PMI in accordance with the single selected precoding matrix are included. When PTI=1, if RI>1, a WB CQI having a 3-bit spatial difference can be reported.

In a transmission mode 4, 8 or 9, PMI and CQI are calculated conditionally for a last reported periodic RI. In case of other transmission modes, they are calculated conditionally for a rank 1 transmission.

Looking into a UE-selected SB CQI reported subframe, a user equipment selects a preferred optimal one (Best-1) from J BPs configured with N_(j) subband sets [cf. Table 20] and is then able to make a report of a reporting type 1 including a CQI value for a codeword 0 that reflects a selected subband transmission of the BP determined in accordance with a preferred subband indicator L. If RI>1, an SB CQI having an additional 3-bit spatial difference for an offset level of a codeword 1 can be reported. In doing so, the offset level of the codeword 1 indicates a difference of an SB CQI index for the codeword 1 from an SB CQI index for the codeword 0 and an SB CQI can be calculated on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission and a use of a single precoding matrix in every subband.

In case of the transmission mode 9 having the CSI-RS port number set to 8, if PTI=0, a user equipment can make a report of a reporting type 2b. In doing so, a WB CQI value calculated on the assumption of a subband set (S) transmission and a use of a single precoding matrix in every subband and a 2^(nd) PMI of a preferred precoding matrix selected from a codebook set on the assumption of the subband set (S) transmission are included. If RI>1, an SB CQI having an additional 3-bit spatial difference for an offset level of a codeword 1 can be reported. In doing so, the offset level of the codeword 1 indicates a difference of an SB CQI index for the codeword 1 from an SB CQI index for the codeword 0 and an SB CQI can be calculated on the assumption of the subband set (S) transmission and a use of the single precoding matrix in every subband.

If PTI=1 in transmission mode 9, a user equipment can make a report of a reporting type 1a per BP. In doing so, a CQI value for a codeword 0, which reflects a selected subband transmission of a BP determined in accordance with a preferred subband indicator L, is included. And, a 2^(nd) PMI of a preferred precoding matrix selected from a codebook set on the assumption of the selected subband transmission of the BP determined in accordance with the determined preferred subband indicator L is included. If RI>1, an SB CQI having an additional 3-bit spatial difference for an offset level of the codeword 1 can be reported. In doing so, the offset level of the codeword 1 indicates a difference of an SB CQI index for the codeword 1 from an SB CQI index for the codeword 0 and an SB CQI can be calculated on the assumption of the subband set (S) transmission and a use of the single precoding matrix in every subband.

The subband selection and CQI in transmission mode 4, 8 or 9 are calculated conditionally for a last reported periodic WB PMI and RI. In other transmission modes, they are calculated conditionally for a last reported PMI and a rank 1 transmission.

Meanwhile, when a parameter ‘ttiBundling’ provided by an upper layer is set to TRUE, if there occurs contention between UL-SCH and a periodic CSI report in the course of a subframe bundling operation, a user equipment can drop the periodic CSI report of a PUCCH reporting type determined in a corresponding subframe. And, the user equipment may not multiplex a PUSCH transmission and a periodic CSI report payload with each other in a corresponding subframe.

4. CSI Feedback Method for Supporting 256QAM

CSI feedback methods for use in the case in which a wireless access system supports 256QAM will hereinafter be described in detail.

Table 25 shows an example of a CSI feedback table for use in LTE/LTE-A.

TABLE 25 CQI index modulation code rate × 1024 efficiency 0 out of range 1 QPSK 78 0.1523 2 QPSK 120 0.2344 3 QPSK 193 0.3770 4 QPSK 308 0.6016 5 QPSK 449 0.8770 6 QPSK 602 1.1758 7 16QAM 378 1.4766 8 16QAM 490 1.9141 9 16QAM 616 2.4063 10 64QAM 466 2.7305 11 64QAM 567 3.3223 12 64QAM 666 3.9023 13 64QAM 772 4.5234 14 64QAM 873 5.1152 15 64QAM 948 5.5547

In Table 25, there are a total of 16 CQI indexes, such that the 16 CQI indexes may be 4 bits long. In this case, each CQI index is mapped to the corresponding modulation order and the corresponding code rate. Table 25 shows a CQI feedback table for use in the current LTE/LTE-A system, and supports QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM. In the following description, the CQI feedback table for supporting legacy modulation schemes shown in Table 25 is defined as a first CQI table or a legacy table.

Wireless access systems after the LTE-A system have been designed to accommodate the high order modulation scheme of at least 256QAM so as to improve a DL data transfer rate. In order to support 256QAM to DL data, the legacy modulation scheme and the link adaptation scheme must be considered in the wireless access systems.

For CQI feedback for use in LTE/LTE-A, the CQI feedback table composed of 4 bits is used as shown in Table 25. In this case, when supporting MIMO, the 4-bit CQI feedback table is applied to a first codeword (CW). In addition, for a second codeword (CW), a differential value from the CQI feedback value of the first CW is represented by 3 bits, such that the resultant values are transmitted.

For example, in the case of CSI feedback transmitted on PUCCH as can be seen from Table 18, payload of the corresponding report type is transmitted using PUCCH formats 2/2a/2b and PUCCH format 3. However, in the case of PUCCH formats 2/2a/2b and PUCCH format 3, block coding based on Reed-Muller coding is carried out. Therefore, input payload is limited in size. For example, PUCCH formats 2/2a/2b may support payload of 13 bits or less, and PUCCH format 3 assumes input payload of 22 bits or less.

Considering the above-mentioned situation, CQI feedback methods for supporting 256QAM according to the embodiment will hereinafter be described.

4.1 Definition (1) of Second CQI Feedback Table for Supporting 256QAM

A new CQI feedback table for supporting 256QAM according to the embodiments is defined. The CQI feedback table for supporting 256QAM may be referred to as a second CQI feedback table or a new table. To define the second CQI feedback table, some parts of the legacy CQI indexes without increasing the size of legacy CQI feedback table will hereinafter be described in detail.

Tables 26 and 27 illustrate examples of the second CQI feedback table.

TABLE 26 CQI index modulation 0 out of range 1 QPSK 2 QPSK 3 QPSK 4 QPSK 5 QPSK 6 QPSK 7 16QAM 8 16QAM 9 16QAM 10 64QAM 11 64QAM 12 64QAM 13 256QAM 14 256QAM 15 256QAM

TABLE 27 CQI index modulation 0 out of range 1 QPSK 2 QPSK 3 QPSK 4 QPSK 5 QPSK 6 QPSK 7 16QAM 8 16QAM 9 16QAM 10 64QAM 11 64QAM 12 256QAM 13 256QAM 14 256QAM 15 256QAM

If the legacy CQI feedback table is not increased in size, the previously implemented CQI feedback operation may be reused as necessary, such that backward compatibility with the legacy system can be maintained.

Table 25 showing the first CQI feedback table is configured in a manner that the CQI index is gradually increased in response to spectral efficiency. CQI indexes for 256QAM are preferably selected from CQI indexes 10 to 15 for 64QAM. In addition, CQI indexes for 256QAM may be selected from CQI indexes used for modulation schemes other than 64QAM. Since a 64QAM-256QAM switching point preferably corresponds to effective coding rates 0.6 to 0.65, CQI indexes 13, 14, and 15 (See Table 26) or CQI indexes 12 to 15 (See Table 27) are preferably used for 256QAM. Needless to say, CQI indexes used in the remaining modulation schemes other than 64QAM may be selected to support the 256QAM scheme.

4.2 Definition (2) of Second CQI Feedback Table for Supporting 256QAM

To support 256QAM, a conventional 4-bit CQI feedback table is increased to 5 or more bits, and a detailed description thereof will hereinafter be described in detail. Although there is a need to change the CSI coding scheme according to this method, this method is advantageous in that a change of a radio channel can be represented more accurately to be fed back.

For the convenience of description, the size of the second CQI feedback table is increased to 5 bits. Of course, the second CQI feedback table may have a larger size than 5 bits.

In general, a radio channel variation reaches 30 to 40 dB. Thus, considering a 5-bit CQI feedback table, it is preferred to set an SINR (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio) different between CQI indexes to about 1 dB.

Assuming that a step size of 1 dB is used, a dynamic range of about 32 dB is provided, thus covering most of the dynamic range of a radio channel.

The lowest CQI index (CQI index 0) is preferably out-of-range indicating that service is unavailable and the SINR corresponds to about −6 dB to −7 dB. Therefore, the 5-bit CQI feedback table may represent a radio channel having a 32-dB dynamic range with a 1-dB resolution. The effective coding rate of a modulation switching point is assumed to be 0.6 to 0.65. The second CQI table configured in consideration of the above-mentioned matters can be represented by Table 28.

TABLE 28 CQI index Modulation 0 Out of range 1 QPSK 2 QPSK 3 QPSK 4 QPSK 5 QPSK 6 QPSK 7 QPSK 8 QPSK 9 QPSK 10 QPSK 11 QPSK 12 QPSK 13 QPSK 14 QPSK 15 16QAM 16 16QAM 17 16QAM 18 16QAM 19 16QAM 20 16QAM 21 64QAM 22 64QAM 23 64QAM 24 64QAM 25 64QAM 26 256QAM 27 256QAM 28 256QAM 29 256QAM 30 256QAM 31 256QAM

Table 28 is an example of the second CQI feedback table, and shows a 5-bit CQI feedback table supporting 256QAM. In another method, CQI indexes 25-31 of Table 28 may be allocated according to the 256QAM scheme.

In Table 28, it is assumed that various methods defined in the legacy LTE/LTE-A system be applied not only to three differential CQI bits defined for a second CW during legacy MIMO transmission but also to the number of PMI/RI bits changed according to an antenna configuration.

Specifically, in the case of transmission modes (TMs) 1, 2, 3, and 7 requiring no PMI/RI feedback, and in the other case of TMs 8, 9, and 10 without a PMI/RI feedback, the conventional CSI feedback scheme may be reused. The above cases may correspond to PUCCH report modes 1-0 and 2-0.

For TMs 4, 5, and 6, and TMs 8, 9, and 10 requiring PMI/RI feedback, a second CQI feedback table of 5 bits may be used only in PUCCH report mode 1-1. If the number of CQI feedback bits is 11 or larger for a specific antenna configuration in PUCCH report types 2/2a/2b, the wireless access system may be configured to use PUCCH format 2a or PUCCH format 3 multiplexed with ACK/NACK of the extended CP.

4.3 CSI Reporting Method (1) for Supporting 256QAM

The above-mentioned sections 4.1 and 4.2 have disclosed CQI feedback tables (Tables 25 to 28) newly defined for supporting 256QAM. Therefore, when CSI feedback including the CQI index is performed through PUCCH and/or PUSCH, the BS and/or UE may perform CSI reporting using the newly defined CQI feedback table only.

That is, the UE may transmit the CQI index using the 5-bit CQI feedback table disclosed in Section 4.2, irrespective of whether the UE supports MIMO transmission.

Therefore, the UE may not report the CSI payload of 11 bits or more at a specific CSI reporting time as necessary. In this case, CSI transmission may be dropped.

4.4 CSI Reporting Method (2) for Supporting 256QAM

When the UE reports CSI through a PUCCH, TM supporting no MIMO transmission can transmit CSI composed of a maximum of 6 bits, and TM supporting MIMO transmission can transmit CSI composed of a maximum of 11 bits through a PUCCH. In the case of using the CQI index of 5 bits to indicate the CQI feedback table of 256QAM as described in Section 4.2, TM supporting no MIMO transmission has no problem in transmitting CSI through a PUCCH. However, TM supporting MIMO transmission encounters some problems in CSI reporting because the CSI information bits are 11 bits or more.

In this case, TM in which the wireless access system does not perform MIMO transmission may use the first CQI feedback table of Table 24 to perform CSI reporting. TM supporting MIMO transmission may be configured to use the second CQI feedback tables of Tables 25 to 28.

4.5 CSI Reporting Method (3) for Supporting 256QAM

The following description will disclose an exemplary case in which a first CQI feedback table (or legacy table) used in LTE/LTE-A and a second CQI feedback table defined for supporting 256QAM are simultaneously used.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating one of methods for reporting CSI through an uplink channel.

In FIG. 17, it is assumed that the UE and the eNB maintain and manage the first CQI feedback table and the second CQI feedback table, respectively. In this case, the first CQI feedback table is identical to Table 25, and the CQI feedback index for the legacy UE is defined. In addition, the second CQI feedback tables are shown in Tables 26 to 28, and the CQI feedback index for a UE supporting 256QAM is defined. Of course, not only Tables 2628 but also CQI feedback tables configured to support 256QAM may be used as the second CQI feedback tables.

Referring to FIG. 17, the UE and the eNB perform a UE capability negotiation process for negotiating whether or not 256QAM is supported after completion of initial access in step S1710.

The UE and the eNB are configured to mutually support 256QAM in step S1710, and it is assumed that various parameters and/or fields for supporting 256QAM are exchanged.

Thereafter, if it is necessary for the eNB to transmit DL data configured with 256QAM modulation scheme, the eNB may transmit a physical layer signal (e.g., PDCCH signal and/or EPDCCH signal) including a 256QAM indicator for indicating use of 256QAM, a Table ID for indicating a second table, or a higher layer signal (e.g., MAC signal or RRC signal) to the UE in step S1720.

The UE having received the 256QAM indicator indicating use of 256QAM or the second table ID in step S1720 may recognize that DL data transferred from the eNB can be modulated by 256QAM.

Thereafter, the eNB transmits a PDCCH/EPDCCH signal including UL scheduling information to the UE so as to acquire CSI. In this case, the CSI request field is added to the PDCCH/EPDCCH signal, such that a periodic or aperiodic CSI request may be indicated in step S1730.

The UE may perform a channel measurement process to acquire CSI from a channel connected to the eNB in step S1740.

The UE having received the 256QAM indicator indicating use of 256QAM in step S1720 may select an appropriate CQI index from the second CQI feedback table on the basis of CSI measured in step S1740. Thereafter, the UE may transmit the selected CQI index to the eNB through an uplink (UL) channel indicated by the UL scheduling information. In this case, the UL channel may be a PUCCH or PUSCH in step S1750.

If the CQI index indicates an available 256QAM modulation scheme, the eNB may transmit a PDCCH and/or EPDCCH signal including I_(MCS) indicating 256QAM and appropriate coding rate to the UE. The UE may derive a Transport Block Size (TBS) supporting 256QAM in response to the received I_(MCS) signal in step S1760.

The eNB may modulate and transmit DL data (e.g., DL-SCH signal) in response to the modulation order and TBS that have been notified to the UE through the I_(MCS) signal. In addition, the UE may receive and demodulate DL data modulated by 256QAM on the basis of the I_(MCS) value received in step S1760 (S1770).

In another embodiment of FIG. 17, assuming that the CQI index of 5 bits is used when CQI report is performed using PUCCH, CSI bits capable of being transmitted through a PUCCH may exceed a predetermined number of CSI bits at a specific reporting time. In this case, the UE may transmit the corresponding CQI index to the eNB through aperiodic CSI reporting (i.e., through PUSCH).

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating one of methods for reporting CSI through a PUSCH.

In FIG. 18, it is assumed that the UE and the eNB maintain and manage the first CQI feedback table (e.g., Table 25) and the second CQI feedback table (e.g, Tables 26 to 28), respectively.

Referring to FIG. 18, the UE and the eNB perform a UE capability negotiation process for negotiating whether or not 256QAM is supported after completion of initial access in step S1810.

The UE and the eNB are configured to mutually support 256QAM in step S1810, and it is assumed that various parameters and/or fields for supporting 256QAM are exchanged.

Thereafter, if it is necessary for the eNB to transmit 256QAM configured DL data, the eNB may transmit a physical layer signal (e.g., PDCCH signal and/or EPDCCH signal) including a 256QAM indicator for indicating use of 256QAM, a Table ID for indicating a second table, or a higher layer signal (e.g., MAC signal or RRC signal) to the UE in step S1820.

The UE having received the 256QAM indicator indicating use of 256QAM or the second table ID in step S1820 may recognize that DL data can be transferred from the eNB which is modulated by 256QAM.

Thereafter, the eNB may transmit a PDCCH/EPDCCH signal including UL scheduling information to the UE so as to acquire CSI. In this case, the CSI request field is added to the PDCCH/EPDCCH signal, such that a periodic or aperiodic CSI request may be indicated in step S1830.

The UE may perform a channel measurement process to acquire CSI from a channel connected to the eNB in step S1840.

The UE having received the 256QAM indicator indicating use of 256QAM in step S1820 may select an appropriate CQI index from the second CQI feedback table on the basis of CSI measured in step S1840. Thereafter, the UE may transmit the selected CQI index to the eNB through a PUSCH signal aperiodically transmitted. If the 256QAM indicator indicates that the 256QAM modulation scheme will be not used in step S1820, the UE selects the CQI index from the first CQI feedback table, such that the UE may periodically report the CSI to the eNB through a PUCCH in step S1850.

If the CQI index indicates the 256QAM modulation scheme will be used, the eNB may transmit a PDCCH and/or EPDCCH signal including I_(MCS) indicating 256QAM and appropriate coding rate to the UE. The UE may derive a Transport Block Size (TBS) supporting 256QAM in response to the received I_(MCS) signal in step S1860.

The eNB may modulate and transmit DL data (e.g., DL-SCH signal) in response to the modulation order and TBS that have been notified to the UE through the I_(MCS) signal. In addition, the UE may receive and demodulate DL data modulated by 256QAM on the basis of the I_(MCS) value received in step S1860 (S1870).

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating one of methods for reporting CSI through a PUSCH.

The embodiment of FIG. 19 is similar to that of FIG. 18. Therefore, the same or similar parts may refer to FIG. 18, and only different parts not disclosed in FIG. 18 will hereinafter be described in detail.

Referring to FIG. 19, the UE supporting 256QAM may transmit specific information as to whether 256QAM is used and which CQI table is selected to the eNB. That is, the UE is able to determine whether to use 256QAM using the channel measurement result measured in step S1940 (S1950).

For example, if a channel situation is good enough to be used for 256QAM, CSI reporting can be performed using the second CQI feedback table supporting 256QAM. If a channel situation is not enough to be used for 256QAM, CSI reporting can be performed using the first CQI feedback table. In this case, the UE transmits a CSI report along with an ID of the CQI feedback table used by the UE to the eNB in step 1960.

If the UE uses the first CQI feedback table in step S1960, the corresponding CSI reporting may be performed through PUCCH and/or PUSCH. If the UE uses the second CQI feedback table in step 1960, the corresponding CSI reporting may be performed through a PUSCH.

In another example, assuming that if the UE feeds back CQI to a PUCCH, CQI index is always selected from the first CQI feedback table. If the UE feeds back CQI to a PUSCH, the UE is configured to always select the CQI index from the second CQI feedback table, such that specific information indicating which feedback table is used can be implicitly notified to the eNB. For example, if the eNB receives CSI report through a PUCCH, the eNB interprets the CQI index from the first CQI feedback table. If the eNB receives CSI report through a PUSCH, the eNB may interpret the CQI index from the second CQI feedback table. Accordingly, the UE need not transmit the CQI feedback table ID shown in step S1960.

Detailed description of the remaining steps (S1970 and S1980) of FIG. 19 may refer to S1860 and S1870 of FIG. 18.

4.6 4.5 CSI Reporting Method (4) for Supporting 256QAM

If channel measurement of the steps (S1740, S1840, S1940) of FIGS. 17 to 19 is performed using Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) and Channel State Information-Interference Measurement (CSI-IM), the UE supporting 256QAM may be configured to select the CQI feedback per CSI process. Alternatively, the CQI feedback tables supporting 256QAM shown in Tables 26 to 28 may be configured per CSI subset.

In this case, the UE may be configured to perform CSI report for a plurality of CSI processes or CSI subsets, and each of the first CQI feedback table and the second CQI feedback table may be configured for the same CSI RS resources.

Accordingly, the eNB having received the CSI report of multiple CSI processes may include MCS information based on the CSI report in DCI of the PDCCH signal, and transmit the resultant DCI. In this case, although some CSI processes can use the first CQI feedback table not supporting 256QAM, the eNB can transmit the MCS index (I_(MCS)) indicating 256QAM to the UE in response to a channel situation, and transmit 256QAM-modulated DL data.

5. Apparatuses

Apparatuses illustrated in FIG. 20 are means that can implement the methods described before with reference to FIGS. 1 to 19.

A UE may act as a transmitter on a UL and as a receiver on a DL. An eNB may act as a receiver on a UL and as a transmitter on a DL.

That is, each of the UE and the eNB may include a Transmission (Tx) module 2040 or 2050 and a Reception (Rx) module 2060 or 2070, for controlling transmission and reception of information, data, and/or messages, and an antenna 2000 or 2010 for transmitting and receiving information, data, and/or messages.

Each of the UE and the eNB may further include a processor 2020 or 2030 for implementing the afore-described embodiments of the present disclosure and a memory 2080 or 2090 for temporarily or permanently storing operations of the processor 2020 or 2030.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed using the components and functions of the UE and the eNB described from the first section to the fourth section. For example, the processor of the eNB and/or the UE is able to maintain and manage the first CQI feedback table for supporting the legacy modulation schemes and/or the second CQI feedback table for supporting the 256QAM by alone or in combination of the method described in sections 1 to 4. In addition, the eNB may transmit the downlink data modulated by the 256 QAM after the eNB informs whether the 256QAM is used or not to the UE. Besides, the UE may transmit the CQI index selected from the second CQI feedback table after measuring channel state information for a downlink channel. The detail methods can be referred to sections 1 to 4.

The Tx and Rx modules of the UE and the eNB may perform a packet modulation/demodulation function for data transmission, a high-speed packet channel coding function, OFDMA packet scheduling, TDD packet scheduling, and/or channelization. Each of the UE and the eNB of FIG. 20 may further include a low-power Radio Frequency (RF)/Intermediate Frequency (IF) module.

Meanwhile, the UE may be any of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular phone, a Personal Communication Service (PCS) phone, a Global System for Mobile (GSM) phone, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) phone, a Mobile Broadband System (MBS) phone, a hand-held PC, a laptop PC, a smart phone, a Multi Mode-Multi Band (MM-MB) terminal, etc.

The smart phone is a terminal taking the advantages of both a mobile phone and a PDA. It incorporates the functions of a PDA, that is, scheduling and data communications such as fax transmission and reception and Internet connection into a mobile phone. The MB-MM terminal refers to a terminal which has a multi-modem chip built therein and which can operate in any of a mobile Internet system and other mobile communication systems (e.g. CDMA 2000, WCDMA, etc.).

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be achieved by various means, for example, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof.

In a hardware configuration, the methods according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be achieved by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, etc.

In a firmware or software configuration, the methods according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of a module, a procedure, a function, etc. performing the above-described functions or operations. A software code may be stored in the memory 2080 or 2090 and executed by the processor 2020 or 2030. The memory is located at the interior or exterior of the processor and may transmit and receive data to and from the processor via various known means.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure may be carried out in other specific ways than those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the present disclosure. The above embodiments are therefore to be construed in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, not by the above description, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that claims that are not explicitly cited in each other in the appended claims may be presented in combination as an embodiment of the present disclosure or included as a new claim by a subsequent amendment after the application is filed.

As is apparent from the above description, the embodiments of the present invention have the following effects.

First, the embodiments can transmit and receive DL data using a high-order modulation scheme, and can efficiently transmit and receive data.

Second, the embodiments can feed back CSI for data having a high modulation order.

The present disclosure is applicable to various wireless access systems including a 3GPP system, a 3GPP2 system, and/or an IEEE 802.xx system. Besides these wireless access systems, the embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable to all technical fields in which the wireless access systems find their applications. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for transmitting Channel Status Information (CSI) in a wireless access system, the method performed by a User Equipment (UE) and comprising: measuring a Channel Quality Indication (CQI) for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH); and transmitting the CSI including a CQI index corresponding to the CQI, wherein the CQI index is selected from one of a first CQI table for supporting up to a 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) scheme and a second CQI table for supporting up to a 256 QAM scheme, wherein CQI indices 12 to 15 of the first CQI table are used for the 64 QAM scheme and CQI indices 12 to 15 of the second CQI table are used for the 256 QAM scheme, wherein a number of CQI indices for a 16 QAM scheme of each of the first and the second CQI tables is the same, and wherein a size of each of the first and the second CQI tables is the same.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first CQI table is: CQI index Modulation code rate × 1024 efficiency 0 out of range 1 QPSK  78 0.1523 2 QPSK 120 0.2344 3 QPSK 193 0.3770 4 QPSK 308 0.6016 5 QPSK 449 0.8770 6 QPSK 602 1.1758 7 16QAM 378 1.4766 8 16QAM 490 1.9141 9 16QAM 616 2.4063 10 64QAM 466 2.7305 11 64QAM 567 3.3223 12 64QAM 666 3.9023 13 64QAM 772 4.5234 14 64QAM 873 5.1152 15 64QAM 948 5.5547.


3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a CQI index of the second CQI table is set to 4 bits.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CSI is transmitted on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CQI index is selected from the second CQI table when the 256 QAM is supported.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a CQI index of each of the first CQI table and the second CQI table is set to 4 bits.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the UE derives a Transport Block Size (TBS) corresponding to the CQI index selected from one of the first CQI table for supporting up to a 64 QAM scheme and the second CQI table for supporting up to a 256 QAM scheme.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CSI is transmitted on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and wherein the CSI includes a rank indication (RI) transmitted on the PUSCH, and, for transmit diversity, the RI is equal to one.
 9. A User Equipment (UE) for transmitting Channel Status Information (CSI) in a wireless access system, the UE comprising: a transmitter; and a processor configured to: measure a Channel Quality Indication (CQI) for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), and control the transmitter to transmit the CSI including a CQI index corresponding to the CQI, wherein the CQI index is selected from one of a first CQI table for supporting up to a 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) scheme and a second CQI table for supporting up to a 256 QAM scheme, wherein CQI indices 12 to 15 of the first CQI table are used for the 64 QAM and CQI indices 12 to 15 of the second CQI table are used for the 256 QAM scheme, wherein a number of CQI indices for a 16 QAM scheme of the first and the second CQI tables is the same, and wherein a size of each of the first and the second CQI tables is the same.
 10. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the first CQI table is: CQI index Modulation code rate × 1024 efficiency 0 out of range 1 QPSK  78 0.1523 2 QPSK 120 0.2344 3 QPSK 193 0.3770 4 QPSK 308 0.6016 5 QPSK 449 0.8770 6 QPSK 602 1.1758 7 16QAM 378 1.4766 8 16QAM 490 1.9141 9 16QAM 616 2.4063 10 64QAM 466 2.7305 11 64QAM 567 3.3223 12 64QAM 666 3.9023 13 64QAM 772 4.5234 14 64QAM 873 5.1152 15 64QAM 948 5.5547.


11. The UE according to claim 9, wherein a CQI index of the second CQI table is set to 4 bits.
 12. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the CSI is transmitted on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).
 13. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the CQI index is selected from the second CQI table when the 256 QAM is supported.
 14. The UE according to claim 9, wherein a CQI index of each of the first CQI table and the second CQI table is set to 4 bits.
 15. The UE according to claim 9, wherein, the UE derives a Transport Block Size (TBS) corresponding to the CQI index selected from one of the first CQI table for supporting up to a 64 QAM scheme and the second CQI table for supporting up to a 256 QAM scheme.
 16. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the CSI is transmitted on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and wherein the CSI includes a rank indication (RI) transmitted on the PUSCH, and, for transmit diversity, the RI is equal to one. 